Legal loss for Surrey drug user group highlights gaps in access, services

The recent decision that favoured the City of Surrey’s move to cancel the business licence of a community space is highlighting an ongoing battle for access and support for drug users in B.C.’s second-largest city.

That’s according to longtime advocate and Surrey-Newton Union of Drug Users founder, Ann Livingston. Her group lost their battle in court, but she says it only motivates them to try again to tackle what they say is a lack of consistent and reliable spaces.

Livingston, with the BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors (BCYADWS) created its Surrey chapter, the Surrey-Newton Union of Drug Users (SNUDU), in October 2020 with the promise to provide access to harm reduction supplies like basic injection equipment, as well as a place to gather for education resources. Calling it a community service, the group applied for a business licence with the city.

But eight months into operating, the licence was pulled by the City of Surrey. The group took their fight to court, and on May 20, a judge sided with the City of Surrey.

"There's no place for them at all."
The Surrey-Newton Union of Drug Users founder says losing the community service has left a major gap for many people who use drugs. She wants to see the city & locals come together to support a new space in the future. https://t.co/Uj1SC9Rf3b https://t.co/0KH6fxkjI8

— Nikitha Martins (@nikitha_martins) June 4, 2022

In an email statement to CityNews, the City of Surrey said, “In view of the Court’s decision, any suggestion that the affected parties were not provided adequate reasons is clearly without merit. The Court is clear that the affected parties were provided a transparent and intelligible justification for the City’s decision.”

SNUDU was located in a commercial building near 72nd Avenue and 132nd Street and was open from Monday to Friday. In February 2021, the centre expanded its hours and operated seven days a week.

Here people who use drugs were able to access WiFi, food, and basic amenities that can be otherwise denied to people who use drugs in the city.

“That corner … [in] Surrey has a ton of drug users. There’s not so much as a toilet they can use or in the winter, a warming center, there’s no place for them at all.” 

However, in March 2021, the Surrey Bylaw service received a complaint over “the use of the Premises as a ‘safe injection site’ with unsafe and unsanitary conditions.”

In an affidavit sworn by the bylaw officer that investigated the report explained that they saw and included evidence of onsite drug use and an absence of COVID-19 safety measures.

A manager of bylaw enforcement and licencing services wrote Livingston and said, “At this time, the City cannot issue you a business licence as it has come to the attention of the City that the proposed business operation includes facilitating the consumption of illicit drugs.”

“While we understand the intentions behind this operation is to ensure the well-being of your members, the City is not [in] a position to grant a business licence for this use without you first obtaining approval from the appropriate Provincial health authorities, including the Fraser Health Authority.”

A number of complaints were made through to May 2021 “about activities in and around the Premises,” court documents read.

Court case points to lack of spaces

Livingston says the centre was not given much of an option to direct people to use their drugs at another overdose prevention site close by.

“It wasn’t like next door there was … a place to go use drugs. And we could say, ‘hey, just go next door and do that, then when you’re done come back in here. There’s nothing in [that neighbourhood], you’d have to go all the way to [Whalley.]” she explained. 

Livingston says losing the space has left a major gap for many, and wants to see the community come together to support a new space in the future.

According to the BC Coroners Service, in 2022, Surrey continues to be one of the areas that experiences the highest number of illicit drug toxicity deaths. As the drug supply in the provinces continues to remain toxic, Livingston says the City’s response to the crisis is not enough and not accessible enough, given the size of the city.

Read more: Why is B.C. decriminalizing drugs? And will it help?

“That was the absurdity and the difficulty we have in communicating with the public is, if people have failed to stop using drugs, then they’re using drugs. And these drugs now are dangerous. They could die anytime. And they’re very, very short acting.” 

Surrey needs more spaces: Advocates

Michael Musgrove is the Executive Director at Surrey Urban Mission (SUMS). Three of four of its shelters have overdose prevention sites.

Musgrove says improvements and progress in the city havebeen made to address the population of people in Surrey that use drugs. But he admits, “are we meeting the demand? I would have to say an absolutely not.”

He says there are a lot of roadblocks to ensuring the city, which is the third-largest in the province in terms of geographic area, has resources close by for everyone to use.

“I don’t want to discourage the people that are working so hard to do this and a city that I really believe wants to meet the demands. The problem is, we’re up against some pretty difficult barriers. One we’ve got a housing crisis … so there’s limited availability so we end up stuck,” he said.

Musgrove says over his time working at SUMS, he has seen gaps and ways people can be more understanding of people with an addiction. But he adds, he’s seen locals in the Whalley area come a long way in how they treat those who use drugs.

“But I think that overall we’re seeing some better communication about things like that. We’re not just seeing the ‘get the police here and get them in jail.'”

He says support can also come through outreach, funding, counselling, doctor care, and harm reduction options.

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• About 6 people died per day in January from toxic illicit drugs in B.C.

Calls for the province to step in

Fraser Health says there are three publicly accessible sites for “witnessed substance use consumption” in the city as well as one new space in White Rock. It adds that there are independent organizations which exist in the city and do set up and run overdose prevention sites, including those operated by BCYADWS in Surrey-Newton. However, it says, “These sites are not funded by or regulated by Fraser Health.”

So, these services and organizations are subject to the zoning rules, bylaws and laws in their jurisdictions.

Pivot Legal Society, which defended the group in court, takes issue with the decision and the move by the city, but is undeterred.

“Surrey has a dramatic lack of services for people who use drugs. So this space was serving a critical gap in the harm reduction spectrum in Surrey-Newton,” Caitlin Shane, staff lawyer of drug policy with Pivot Legal Society and council said.

“The fact that a business license was denied and SNUDU had no choice but to close its doors after that decision, means that people are once again left in this landscape where they don’t have consistent or reliable space to access the supports they need,” she said.  

At BARE MINIMUM, municipalities like Surrey must show adequate reasoning for shuttering drug user resource centres.

PDF link of decision – https://t.co/pa51cpfNt4

2/4

— Pivot Legal Society (@pivotlegal) May 20, 2022

She is urging the province to step in on these city council matters in the future and make it easier for these spaces to keep their doors open.  

“When push comes to shove, they’ve shown very little support, engagement or help in the way of actually protecting these groups and standing behind them and stepping in with the powers that they have,” she said. 

Livingston has not decided what the group’s next legal steps will be.