DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE BOOK GETS GALIANO LAUNCH

A book launch at Galiano Island's South Hall next weekend puts the
focus on a topic that's often in the news, dissected by three people
who have seen it on the ground.

A Thousand Dreams, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for its
Future, is a mix of history, journalism, political analysis and
first-person accounts.

Written by former chief coroner and Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell,
renowned criminologist Neil Boyd and investigative journalist Lori
Culbert, it offers a portrait of one of North America's poorest, most
drug-challenged neighbourhoods.

The Galiano event is on Sunday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m. Author Campbell will
be in attendance.

According to a press release, "A Thousand Dreams raises provocative
questions about the challenges confronting not only Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside but also all of North America's major cities and
offers concrete, urgently needed solutions, including:

- - Continued support for Insite, the safe injection
site

- - Decriminalization of prostitution and drugs

- - The transfer of addiction services to the health ministry, allowing
detox into the medical system

- - More government-funded SROs and more affordable social
housing."

Campbell was mayor of Vancouver from 2002 to 2005 and oversaw the
establishment of North America's first legal injection site.

His career as chief coroner for B.C. inspired the Gemini Award-winning
TV series Da Vinci's Inquest.

He was appointed a Canadian senator in 2005 and now has a home on
Galiano Island.

Boyd is a professor and associate director of the School of
Criminology at Simon Fraser University.

He is a frequent media commentator on drug law, drug policy, and
criminal violence, and has completed community impact studies on
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Culbert is an award-winning journalist with the Vancouver
Sun.

She has spent years writing about the Downtown Eastside, including the
trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton.

Galiano Island Books is hosting the event at the hall.

A Thousand Dreams is published by D&M Publishers Inc.