Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
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Housing, policy and community life.
Paramedics Face the Highest Rate of Violence in the Health System
A man asked a paramedic for water. Police say he then struck him on the head. Paramedics report the highest rate of violence in the health system, and their union says it is underreported.
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Medetomidine in B.C.’s Opioid Supply: What Naloxone Can and Cannot Reverse
In January, frontline workers in Trail found about 20 people unconscious outdoors every night. The suspected cause, the veterinary sedative medetomidine, does not respond to naloxone and now turns up in about one in five B.C. opioid samples tested by Health Canada.
Budget 2026 Renews the $100-Million Emergency Treatment Fund and Extends Addictions Transfers One Year
Budget 2026 renews the Emergency Treatment Fund for two years and extends the addictions transfers to provinces for one. The dates and eligibility rules decide what reaches East Hastings.
The rental rescue funds that leave Vancouver’s SROs out
Canada has put $1.5 billion behind buying affordable rental homes. The rules leave out the residential hotels that Downtown Eastside tenant groups are trying to save.
What affordable shopping on Hastings would take
Filling an empty storefront can bring activity back to Hastings. Residents also need shops they can afford, with the goods and everyday services they have been travelling elsewhere to find.
Vancouver’s Police Audit Promise Needs the Board’s Invitation
A Vancouver council committee approved $5 million for a Downtown Eastside police task force nine months after it began. A promised VPD audit now depends on an invitation that only the Police Board can send.
Canada’s Homelessness Target Would Cost $3.5 Billion More a Year
Ottawa gave itself until 2027-28 to halve chronic homelessness. A friendship centre spent 18 years working toward one East Hastings building. Now a call for a national mission arrives three days before the budget, without a number.
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