Jackie Dives

Join us Oct. 5 from 12-1pm PT| 3-4pm ET for a conversation exploring the judgement, legal arguments, political context, and what this decision might hold for the future of drug policy in Canada. Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... @crackdownpod.bsky.social @thetyee.ca

“Go do great things; I have no doubt you will.” - Justice Murray www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Murray has declared Section 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act unconstitutional and given Ottawa six months to bring the legislation in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Murray ordered the federal government to amend the CDSA to bring it into constitutionality — particularly by making space for non-medicalized safe supply to operate. www.defactomedia.ca/breaking-dul...

Murray ordered the federal government to amend the CDSA to bring it into constitutionality — particularly by making space for non-medicalized safe supply to operate. www.defactomedia.ca/breaking-dul...

Murray has declared Section 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act unconstitutional and given Ottawa six months to bring the legislation in line with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Go do great things; I have no doubt you will.” - Justice Murray www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

BREAKING: A BC Supreme Court judge has sided with Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx, who operated an illicit-drug compassion club (Drug User Liberation Front), were convicted of trafficking, and challenged the constitutionality of Canada's drug laws. Trafficking section ruled invalid, convictions stayed.

BREAKING: Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx's charges are being thrown out. she said they did a public service "at considerable personal cost."

Sharing this again, on the anniversary of my dad's death from an accidental drug overdose. thetyee.ca/Culture/2024... @thetyee.ca

Sharing this again, on the anniversary of my dad's death from an accidental drug overdose. thetyee.ca/Culture/2024... @thetyee.ca

“The news of station closures came just one day after Rogers announced the company spent $4.35 billion to buy the remaining ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, becoming the sole owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Raptors and Toronto Football Club.”

This is my last working week as the labour reporter at PressProgress. I received notice a little over a week ago that the labour reporter position is being terminated and I’m being laid off.

The Drug User Liberation Front’s constitutional challenge wrapped up Friday, but co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum won’t know until next year whether their efforts to save lives will land them in jail. @michellegamage.bsky.social reports. #vanpoli

Today, we launched the Free Access for Journalists program: free access to the IJF’s 23 million+ rows of public interest data for reporters across Canada. Learn more about this program and check your eligibility today: theijf.org/free-access-...

jackiedives.substack.com/p/april-2026

For my newsletter this week I interviewed artist Amanda Wood. open.substack.com/pub/jackiedi...

jackiedives.substack.com/p/april-2026

jackiedives.substack.com/p/postcard-c...

this is today! I'll be talking about strikes and showing some photos

This first line in this article "It was 2014 when I first heard of fentanyl entering the unregulated drug supply." feels like a stab in my heart. It was in 2014 that I learned about the contaminated supply by losing my youngest son Danny to it. The day that made me an accidental advocate.

B.C.'s death toll is nearly in the tens of thousands with no end in sight. Basically every expert I speak with these days says we need to regulate the drug supply. The BCNDP are not willing to consider that, despite many of their own experts calling for it. thetyee.ca/News/2026/04...

A decade under a public health emergency and nearly tens of thousands dead is horrific. Catastrophic. Grotesque. Governments are meant to keep people safe. The BCNDP knows thousands are dying every year from unregulated drugs. They choose to not regulate the drugs. Today I am exhausted with grief.

"Social murder" is a good way to put it. If this many people were being killed by cars we wouldn't be blaming people for leaving their houses in the morning. We'd demand change. Stigma is killing people. Stigma says because people use drugs the deserve to die. That is so wrong on so many levels.

My father was one of more than 50,000 people in Canada to die from a drug overdose since British Columbia’s provincial health officer declared a public health emergency on April 14, 2016.

I later found a government letter in his room that denied his request for them to provide him with a bed.

sharing a short reflection I wrote about working in the toxic drug crisis—which was formally declared 10 years ago today in BC. see those who can make it at Oppenheimer this evening themainlander.com/2026/04/14/e...

Sharing something I wrote for The Globe and Mail in 2025, in my newsletter today. open.substack.com/pub/jackiedi...

Reflecting on 10 Long Years of BC's Toxic Drug Crisis via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026...

thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026... Ten years that they count. More that they don’t. #bcpoli

“We will emerge into a landscape of rational drug policy, even if it remains pretty dark until we get there.” Victoria-based addiction medicine specialist Dr. Ryan Herriot writes. #ToxicDrugCrisis #bcpoli

Sometimes, it feels as though flawed or weak versions of evidence-based policies have been deliberately adopted and designed to fail or to exist only as short-lived “pilots,” so that we could all move on, saying “See, that didn’t work.”

Reposting things I've written about the toxic drug supply crisis, as we mark 10 years of this public health emergency. thetyee.ca/Culture/2024...

Vancouver friends! I'll be reading from a couple pieces I wrote for Briarpatch and talking about how the labour disputes I profiled have evolved since publishing those stories. Come out and support independent journalism! www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticket...

April marks a decade of an ongoing public health emergency actively being ignored by people who have the power to do something to stop it. I'm exasperated and not sure what to do other than re-share what I've been photographing and writing about it for the past ten years.

After a two-month break, our press freedom trial against the RCMP resumed this week in Vancouver, with the RCMP expected to wrap up its defence next week. Final arguments are scheduled to be heard in June. You can learn more and follow along here: thenarwhal.ca/press-freedom/

✨ Cover reveal! 📕 "Very Vancouver" will be out in August. It's a non-fiction storybook by me, a kaleidoscopic odyssey through backyard gardens, alley bottle hoards, SROs, Duffin's at midnight, and east-side family life — tales that take you beyond our pretty skylines. ecwpress.com/products/ver...

A month-long art installation opened on Tuesday inside the Bay Centre, marking 10 years since BC declared toxic drug overdoses a crisis.

“To my surprise, I think that I actually love not being a mom.”

Some ramblings about a new work in progress. open.substack.com/pub/jackiedi...

For my newsletter this week I interview artist Heidi Parkes open.substack.com/pub/jackiedi...

April marks a decade of an ongoing public health emergency actively being ignored by people who have the power to do something to stop it. I'm exasperated and not sure what to do other than re-share what I've been photographing and writing about it for the past ten years.

Wrote about some artists and art that continue to inspire me. jackiedives.substack.com/p/inspiratio...

I send out a real postcard of my photography each month, to people who are subscribed. There is also a digital version. jackiedives.substack.com/p/postcard-c...

Happy world autism awareness day I’m incredibly grateful for the life I get to live May you show the autistic people in your life whatever enthusiasm and support they need so they can feel the same anyways today i explored a ghost mall

For this week's newsletter I share some of my exhibition planning and design process. open.substack.com/pub/jackiedi...

For this week's newsletter I wrote about burying super 8 footage in the plot where my dad and I used to garden, and trusting the art making process. open.substack.com/pub/jackiedi...

My photography will be a part of this exhibition in Victoria in April. namingacrisis.ca/april-exhibit/

We are creating space in the Naming a Crisis exhibit for healthcare workers to participate by sharing messages about their experiences in the crisis.