THE MAYOR, THE ADDICT AND THE FILMMAKER

There's a revolution brewing in Vancouver and it's the subject of a
controversial documentary

By ALEXANDRA GILL

Fix: The Story of an Addicted City attracted a sold-out crowd to its
hometown premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival on Sunday
night. And if the euphoric reception was any indication, Fix is more than
just a documentary -- it's the first snapshot of a movement that's about to
smack Vancouver into radical change.

Directed by Nettie Wild (A Place Called Chiapas), Fix tells the story of
Dean Wilson, a former IBM salesman and heroin addict, who leads the fight
to open North America's first safe-injection site for intravenous drug
users. Wilson is aided in his cause by Ann Livingston, organizer of the
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. The two advocates find an unlikely
ally in Vancouver's conservative mayor Philip Owen, whose newfound
philosophy toward drugs (which favours harm reduction over the
American-style war on drugs) cost him the support of his party. (As a
result, he will not be a candidate in November's municipal election.)

The mayor, the heroin addict, his now pregnant partner, and the
documentary-maker received a standing ovation at Sunday night's screening.
(The film had its world premiere last month at the Toronto International
Film Festival.)

"We have to get this film out across the country and into every high school
in Canada," said Owen.

In lieu of the customary farewell dinner, Owen has asked his supporters to
buy tickets to a fundraiser on Oct. 16 in aid of getting theatrical
distribution for the film. Tickets to the screening are $100 each.

"When I first began this project, I thought it would be a short film that
would take about four months and would cover the opening of Vancouver's
first safe-injection site for drug users," explained Wild. "That was two
years ago."

Instead, Wild found herself in the midst of a documentary-maker's dream --
an ongoing social movement and a mayoral campaign that is quickly heating
up (now that former coroner Larry "Da Vinci" Campbell has set his sights on
the job) into what may be Canada's first election focused on drugs.

"Dare I call it a revolution," Wild asked the cheering crowd, which
included a busload of squatters who had been brought in from a campsite
outside the occupied Woodwards building in the Downtown Eastside.

It appears that this revolution has only just begun. After the screening,
Wilson told the audience that Vancouver's Harm Reduction Action Society is
planning to open the city's first renegade safe-injection site on Oct. 17,
the day after Owen's fundraiser.

"If you look at every place where safe-injection sites have been
established [27 countries around the world], they have all required actions
of civil disobedience," said Livingston, a social worker.

Owen later said he was not aware of the opening on Oct. 17 and would have
to see how this safe-injection site would be supervised before he lends his
support. "But I can understand their frustration," he added.

[snip]