CHINATOWN WARMS UP TO SAFE INJECTION SITE

The chairman of the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants' Association says though
he doesn't want a safe-injection site for drug addicts in the community, he
could live with one a few blocks away.

Albert Fok said he and the 200-plus merchants of Chinatown have compassion
for drug addicts, and a safe injection site in the Downtown Eastside should
be considered if no other police or health measures are working. "When
there's no other alternatives, perhaps a safe injection site may be
something that's worth experimenting with," said Fok, who runs Kiu Shun
Trading Co. Ltd. on Keefer Street in Chinatown.

A location north of Powell Street would be preferable but Fok stressed the
site would require the simultaneous implementation of the three other
pillars-enforcement, treatment and prevention-of outgoing Mayor Philip
Owen's drug strategy.

Fok also believes residents and merchants of the Downtown Eastside,
including Chinatown, should get a vote on the implementation of a safe
injection site. Federal Health Minister Anne McLellan has said surrounding
residents and businesses should be consulted before a final decision on a
location is made.

But mayor-elect Larry Campbell says a vote is unnecessary considering the
overwhelming support COPE received on election day, particularly at the
polls in Chinatown and surrounding area.

Campbell and eight COPE council candidates swept the polls at Strathcona
Community Centre, Carnegie Community Centre and the Chinese Cultural Centre.
NPAers Don and B.C. Lee and independent George Chow were the only non COPE
candidates to finish in the top 10.

Fok-who lives in Richmond-and other Chinatown property owners, cast ballots
at the Chinese Cultural Centre, dominated by the NPA in the 1999 election.
Fok isn't sure what led to the reversal but speculated it could be
attributed to a bigger voter turnout.

Campbell has met with Fok and other business people and residents in
Chinatown and promised he wouldn't approve a safe injection site in
Chinatown. "[A safe injection site] has to go somewhere in the Downtown
Eastside, obviously, but it doesn't make any sense to put it [in Chinatown].
There is no reason for it because those people with the addiction problem
don't live in Chinatown, they live around it."

Ousted Coun. Don Lee, however, maintains that a site could be opened in one
of two buildings in the community owned by the provincial government.

One building is on the southwest corner of Columbia and Hastings, the other
on the northeast corner of Gore and Hastings, said Lee, who participated in
a rally two years ago with the Community Alliance, which opposes safe
injection sites. "[Are the buildings] going to be for office use? I don't
think so."

But Clay Adams, spokesman for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, said
the health authority has no plans to turn either building into a supervised
drug injection site. He said the building at Hastings and Columbia is
currently leased out to a pawn shop, while the other is a former Buddhist
temple now used for storage.

Safe-injection sites are a sensitive topic in the Chinese community.

The issue was particularly controversial in the days leading up the civic
election, when an anonymous advertiser attacked COPE with front page ads in
the Sing Tao and Ming Pao newspapers. The ads consisted of a red circle
around a picture of a needle, with a red line drawn through the circle.

Campbell expects to view the draft guidelines for the implementation of a
safe injection site before the end of the year. He's promised to open a site
before Jan. 31.

"Don Lee won't be there to make the decision, and quite frankly, that may be
where some of this misinformation comes from. I have no indication from
anybody that they're planning on putting a safe consumption site into
Chinatown, and I would quite frankly be against it."