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Plaintiffs Moms Stop the Harm and the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society sued the Alberta government over the new rules asking for identification such as personal healthcare numbers, in part alleging the measures breach the rights of substance users and argued that some clients will be deterred from using the sites, leading to an increase in overdoses and deaths, even if the policy doesn’t require the sites to turn away clients who don’t provide a healthcare number.
They asked the court to delay the implementation of the identification requirements until the constitutionality of the measures could be decided. The measure came fully into effect on April 1.
In a notice posted online Thursday morning, the Supreme Court dismissed the case with costs.
The injunction was initially dismissed in January by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil. But lawyer Avnish Nanda, representing the plaintiffs appealed and the case was heard by the Court of Appeal of Alberta on Jan. 27. Days later, the case was also dismissed by Alberta’s top court.
While the courts determined irreparable harm — including death — may occur to clients who are deterred from using the sites by being asked for personal information, the extent of the harm is difficult to ascertain, and therefore does not meet the threshold to grant an injunction.
The government has said that asking for personal health numbers is standard practice for health services, and clients will be asked for theirs upon an initial visit. However, no clients will be refused services if they do not provide their health number.
In 2021, 1,771 Albertans died of a drug poisoning, the highest number since the province began tracking deaths in 2016.
More to come.
Source: EdmontonJournal
