2024
Ontario lacks a health-care plan for alcohol harms as sales expand: health coalition
October 31, 2024
The Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian Public Health Association and the Canadian Cancer Society say the province has not responded to their request to work together on a plan to deal with possible harms.
Ban on safe consumption sites will increase risk of preventable deaths and illnesses, experts warn
October 17, 2024
Advocates are calling on the Ontario government to reverse its decision to shutter all supervised consumption sites (SCS), warning the move will significantly increase the risk of viral and bacterial disease transmission.
Healthcare leadership for a climate resilient future
October 14, 2024
The Lancet Countdown, which tracks the health impacts of climate across 47 indicators, has had a global impact, spurring national organisations to speak out on the risks of climate change. For example, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Nurses Association, and the Canadian Public Health Association responded to the 2023 countdown with a policy brief that warns in plain language how “climate change will continue to have devastating impacts on health and human lives, further straining health systems and nullifying any possibility for adaptation, unless ambitious climate action is…
Closing supervised consumption sites will not solve the drug crisis, but it will take lives
October 14, 2024
The closure of several SCSs is so life-threatening that it prompted the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) to share a media release urging the government to reconsider their actions. The scathing title of the release, “dead people don’t need recovery beds,” powerfully sums up the CPHA’s warnings.
A British tech company and liquor giant are collaborating on bringing accessible QR codes to alcohol packaging
October 3, 2024
While one tech firm and a liquor giant are raising a glass to universal design in accessibility, a public health expert is warning of the dangers of allowing easier access to unhealthy products like alcohol. CBC accessibility reporter Luke Williams explains.
Alcohol at corner stores is coming, is Ontario prepared for the health cost of convenience?
August 25, 2024
For the health experts watching, the expectation couldn’t be more simple: More alcohol means more harm. The question is, are we prepared?
Canadian Public Health Association: Closure of consumption sites will cost lives
August 23, 2024
The province is closing the sites that are within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres. Culbert contends safety can be increased with bigger budgets and full-time security guards. He says the closure of these sites will do more harm than good to users looking for help.
Experts warn alcohol liberalization comes with risks. Ontario is forging ahead anyway
August 14, 2024
The Canadian Public Health Association also opposed Ford’s plan and cautioned that increased access to alcohol would, as expected, lead to more alcohol-related harms. Those harms include drunk driving and violence, as well as a rise in substance abuse, which produces more of the same, along with long-term health-care issues that are costly for individuals and the public alike.
'Bag of money up front:' Rural communities boost incentives to attract medical staff
August 5, 2024
Ian Culbert, executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, said the growing role of incentives to attract doctors is putting communities that are seen as less desirable in "an impossible situation."
Partial truths from politicians won’t fix the toxic drug crisis
June 19, 2024
by Ian Culbert and Natalie Brender
The Hill Times, Opinion
June 19, 2024
Recent efforts by political leaders to reverse progressive policies intended to address the toxic drug crisis are misguided. People who use drugs are not the only ones being harmed by several actions: British Columbia’s request that Ottawa re-criminalize the public use of illicit drugs in that province; Ontario’s refusal to support the City of Toronto’s decriminalization application; and Premier Doug Ford’s promise to review and limit supervised consumption facilities. In fact, political…