Vancouver drug advocacy group removes 'reprehensible' merchandise attacking city councilor
A Vancouver drug advocacy group has removed offensive merchandise from its website that attacked a city councilor, and issued an apology.
The group, Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), has previously been endorsed by Vancouver City Council for its proposal of a safe supply model for drug use. In a motion passed unanimously in October, councillors supported the application for a “compassion club model to supply safer drugs to people who use drugs, and who are over 18 years old.”
The application was put forward by DULF and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU).
The group also worked with Coun. Jean Swanson in handing out free drugs on the Downtown Eastside last July.
DULF had recently updated its online store to sell merchandise attacking another councillor, Melissa De Genova. One item was a T-shirt with the words “Follow the money, Melissa 'Spaghetti' De Genova," and another was a pin that read “Melissa De Genova is a pumpkin-headed f***.”
On Twitter, De Genova posted, “I don’t expect DULF to agree with me on drug policy or the harms of the dark web, but what does my ethnicity have to do with it?”
Stewart was asked about the merchandise Wednesday, and said he had reached out to De Genova to offer his support.
In an interview with CTV News, De Genova said she found out about the merchandise on Tuesday through a text from a friend.
“I do believe that personal attacks take away from the important work that we’re doing at City Hall and more and more, these personal attacks happen not only to elected officials, but I do think it’s getting worse for women,” she said.
The group was also called out by Mayor Kennedy Stewart.
“It’s everything bad about politics. Personal attacks, especially against women are one of the things that’s hurting our democracy so they absolutely must stop this,” the mayor said. “This is reprehensible by the group, they know better and they should immediately stop this and apologize to the councillor for this. We all have to respect each other.”
The group told CTV News their spokesperson was on leave, but said in a message: “Ultimately, the merchandise was meant to be provocative and bring attention the baseless and harmful misinformation constantly expressed by (Melissa De Genova). Artistic expression and comical critique are important tools for civil disobedience.”
They said De Genova had spread “harmful misinformation” about the group and their safe supply model. De Genova said she had voiced concerns in a council meeting about the “dark web” and its connections to the drug market.
“I support safe supply and I would suggest that this group or any other that also support safe supply instead spend their time and efforts focusing on people who don’t support safe supply,” she said.
By late afternoon, the group had removed the material from its website and issued an apology.
“We would like to extend an apology to Councillor De Genova and anyone else hurt by our recent materials,” the group wrote on Facebook. “While we did intend for them to be provocative, they should not have been personalized. It was inappropriate and detracts from the real issue at hand, drug poisoning deaths.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Former Air Canada employees among suspects identified in gold heist at Pearson Airport: police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
MPs summon ArriveCan contractor to the House to be admonished in rare parliamentary display
Enacting an extraordinarily rarely used parliamentary power, MPs have summoned an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon to be admonished publicly for failing to answer their questions.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Ancient skeletons unearthed in France reveal Mafia-style killings
More than 5,500 years ago, two women were tied up and probably buried alive in a ritual sacrifice, using a form of torture associated today with the Italian Mafia, according to an analysis of skeletons discovered at an archaeological site in southwest France.
10 years in U.S. prison for Canadian man who stole millions with fake psychic fraud
A former Montreal resident has been sentenced to 10 years in a United States federal prison for a multi-decade fraud that manipulated more than one million Americans into sending money to fake psychics.
'Enormous sum of money': Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.