PUNCTURING ADDICTION

Dr. James Chi Ming Pau

He looks like an unlikely activist.

In person, Dr. James Chi Ming Pau is a gentlemanly retired
practitioner of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. But Pau
is a Downtown Eastside tour de force who's been on the cutting edge
of drug activism for 30 years.

Trained as a nurse in Hong Kong, Pau immigrated to Canada in 1975 and
worked in geriatric care at Vancouver General Hospital. On the side,
he practised acupuncture, was key in getting the field recognized in
B.C. and served as president of the B.C. association for acupuncture.

In his Keefer Street clinic in the 1980s, he began offering addicts
and others with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis free treatment to help them
"overcome their desire to use drugs."

He's supported harm-reduction and Insite, when others in the Chinese
community were skeptical. He supports drug legalization and has
served as an honorary member of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug
Users and a local association for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered people.

"I've been telling people that Insite works," Pau says. "It's much
cleaner now. People don't shoot up on the sidewalks. I hope I have
some influence changing people's minds."

Pau closed his clinic in 2004, but he's far from retired, regularly
protesting on social issues such as Pharmacare cuts and welfare rates.

He also runs a free Tai Chi class in McLean Park and a seniors'
support group, has helped organize World AIDS Day events, and sits on
Carnegie Centre and senior advisory boards for the city.

"I like to set myself as an example to other retired people, to spend
the day doing volunteer work instead of going to the casino. When I
am still capable, why not?" he says.

Pau's contribution has not gone unnoticed. In 2001, he won a Red
Cross Community Services Award; in 2002, a Volunteer Vancouver's
Community Service award; in 2005, a B.C. Community Achievement award;
and in 2007, a Simon Fraser University Gandhi Peace Award and Thakore
Visiting Scholar Award.

"What is important is not to be judgmental, but to have an open mind.
We are just one people. If you have the ability to help people, to
help the sick, it's a blessing."