Big Events this week

Action on Parliament Hill for

InSite, Vancouver's Safe Injection Site
Come and tell the MP's that InSite saves lives.

That addicts don't live "short, miserable lives" (Stephen Harper, Oct 2007)

Where: Parliament Hill

What: Vigil and information distribution, physical presence on the Hill to show MPs that Canadians support InSite and harm reduction initiatives.

Imagine: 20 big banners of faces, faces of InSite clients in various stages of their lives.

Your job: Hand out pamphlets &/or invite others. That's it.

When: Wednesday November 21, 2007 8.00 am onwards **trying to have a mass of people between 8:30am and 10:00am**

Nathan Allen, resident of the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and the Campaign Coordinator of 'InSite for Community Safety' (www.communityinsite.ca) is in Ottawa this week to raise awareness for Insite, Vancouver's safe injection site. InSite for Community Safety is a broad-based community coalition of individuals and groups from across the political spectrum, working to ensure InSite continues to save lives.

ALSO:

The Alliance to End Homelessness
2007 Community Forum on Homelessness

LINKING NATIONAL RESEARCH WITH OTTAWA ACTION AND POLICY
IN HONOUR OF NATIONAL HOUSING DAY, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2007
Location: University of Ottawa, Tabaret Hall Chapel, 75 Laurier, 1st Floor
Time: 9:00 am–3:30 pm ~ Registration Free ~ Lunch Provided

FEATURING OUR SPECIAL GUESTS
The Research Alliance for Canadian Homelessness, Housing, and Health (REACH 3), a collaborative interdisciplinary network of academic investigators and community partners in Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
MORNING PLENARY RESEARCH PANELS
Housing Solutions
MODERATED BY AN OTTAWA REACH3 MEMBER

PANEL MEMBERS

Liz Evans, BScN, Portland Hotel Society, Vancouver
– on innovative housing programs that have been created in Vancouver.

Stephen Hwang, MD, MPH, St.-Michaels Hospital, Toronto
– on policy and program implications of some of their research

Lorraine Bentley, MA, Executive Director, Options Bytown, Ottawa
– reacting with implications for the housing situation in Ottawa.

Resident, Options Bytown, Ottawa
– providing a personal perspective on their housing difficulties in Ottawa

Youth Can Move Forward

MODERATED BY AN OTTAWA REACH3 MEMBER

PANEL MEMBERS
Elise Roy, MD, MSc, Université de Sherbrooke
– Montreal Street Youth

Bruce MacLaurin, MSW, PhD (Cand.), University of Calgary
– Calgary Street Youth

Catherine Worthington, MSc, PhD, University of Calgary
– Calgary Street Youth

Andrea Poncia, Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa
– HIV/AIDS Educator

An Ottawa youth community member
– commenting on the findings and their own experience

INFORMAL LUNCH & NETWORKING CAUCUSES — A 1½ hour opportunity to share ideas from Ottawa and ask more questions of REACH3 members.

Select your lunch then join one of the LUNCH CAUCUSES, focusing on a variety of topics, facilitated by Ottawa’s Alliance to End Homelessness members.

AFTERNOON PLENARY SESSION
The good, bad and ugly – the InSite Experience
The "how" behind linking community agencies and researchers

LED BY SARAH EVANS, LIZ EVANS AND ANITA HUBLEY

A session describing how the community and the academic's worked together on InSite, Vancouver’s legal supervised injection site.

Hear about the good, bad and ugly parts of the experience when the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, come together locally, nationally and internationally.

CLOSING ACTIVITY
WALK FOR HOUSING
Taking the need for a National Housing Program out to the community!

ALL DAY – SPECIAL EXHIBIT
A Sound & Photo Installation
Street Health Stories
How do you take care of your health when you don’t have a home?
8 Street Health Stories in large lightbox prints with headphones
The National Film Board of Canada’s Filmmaker-in-Residence presents the Street Health Stories installation which gives a human face and voice to Street Health’s statistics.
Four photographers who have experienced homelessness ~ Adrienne, Jess, Keneisha, and Meghan document the stories of 28 homeless men and women through audio recordings and portrait-photography. Katerina Cizek, a documentary-maker and the National Film Board of Canada’s Filmmaker-in-Residence at an inner-city hospital, teaming up with partners at the frontlines – doctors, nurses and patients – to create collaborative media.