On Oct 5, 2023, BC NDP Premier David Eby and Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth announced their intent to increase police tools and discretion through Bill 34, “The Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act.”
But last week, after facing community resistance, a legal injunction, a failed attempt to appeal said injunction, lots of confusion from Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West, and then barely squeaking by John “Cadaver” Rustad in an election, the BC NDP repealed the legislation entirely. The decision frees the government from a costly Charter challenge they were likely to lose in the spring.
In a joint release, the Harm Reduction Nurses Association, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and Pivot Legal Society stated, “[t]he province has tacitly admitted that the Act would not have withstood the court’s scrutiny.”
According to the three groups, Bill 34 would “have enabled an increase in policing scope to specifically target unhoused people,” and would be “recreating and intensifying the existing harms of colonization and systemic racism.”
During the legal proceedings, Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson repeated what directly impacted groups have said all along: “the unregulated nature of the illegal drug supply is the predominant cause of increasing death rates in British Columbia.” This is something the Chief Coroner-led 2023 Death Review Panel and Office of the Provincial Health Officer’s 2024 special report have similarly concluded.
While the BC NDP government has since weaponized their so-called decriminalization framework to recriminalize the use of public space and outdoor drug use, Bill 34 would have expanded criminalization even further by increasing police officer discretion to arrest, displace, fine or seize belongings of people they believe consumed a substance in virtually any outdoor area. The decriminalization framework is a three-year pilot, whereas Bill 34 would have seen the permanent criminalization of suspected use.
Law enforcement budgets would have defunded community infrastructure even faster with Bill 34. Instead, Eby and Farnworth’s police power legislation – a threat to public health, overdose response, and community safety across BC – has been torn up for now.
Background
- Oct 5 2023: BC NDP announces intent to pass Bill 34
- Oct 5 2023: Union of BC Indian Chiefs raises alarm on Bill 34
- Oct 5 2023: Georgia Straight editorial says BC NDP has killed decriminalization
- Oct 10 2023: Care Not Cops & Crackdown Podcast call for Bill 34 to be scrapped
- Oct 12 2023: The BC Association of Social Workers requests withdrawal of Bill 34
- Oct 19 2023: Canadian Mental Health Association – BC Chapter adds voice to opposition
- Oct 24 2023: BC Greens leader Sonia Furstenau attempts to amend Bill 34 during debate after discussions with community groups, BC NDP stonewall all amendments
- Oct 27 2023: Surrey Union of Drug Users releases open letter to three BC NDP cabinet ministers warning against Bill 34
- Oct 30 2023: Policy Options publishes editorial from academics focusing on uneven distribution of harm
- Nov 13 2023: Harm Reduction Nurses Association files legal action against the BC government for Bill 34
- Nov 17 2023: PressProgress reporter Rumneek Johal highlights racist and colonial violence embedded in Bill 34
- Dec 29 2023: Harm Reduction Nurses Association win injunction against Bill 34, stops it from being implemented, the ruling highlights potential violence embedded in the Bill
- February 19 2024: B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education state their opposition to Bill 34
- Mar 1 2024: BC NDP attempts to appeal the HRNA injunction, fails
- May 7 2024: The BC NDP roll back decriminalization to “re-criminalize” drug users, effectively side-stepping the injunction against Bill 34
- May 21 2024: Group of BC healthcare workers write in support of Harm Reduction Nurses Association challenge to Bill 34
- May 30 2024: Elder Mona Woodward with the Surrey Union of Drug Users gives powerful speech against Bill 34 at protest
- June 7 2024: 13 drug user rights groups file for judicial review of decision to “re-criminalize” (this has yet to be heard).
- June 10 2024: Nearly 100 healthcare workers add their name to May 21 2024 statement of support of Harm Reduction Nurses Association’s challenge
- November 8 2024: BC NDP keep majority government by 22 votes
- December 19 2024: BC NDP repeal Bill 34 before Charter challenge can be heard
