libby davies

By Carlito Pablo, Georgia Straight

 

Sex-trade worker Susan Davis has a case of the creeps, and it’s not because of a bad date or a stalker.

 

The veteran sex professional says that what’s making her “just really terrified” are the regulatory changes to the Criminal Code announced by the federal Conservative government on August 4 of this year.

 

Maintaining a brothel wasn’t legal before: it previously carried a prison term of not more than two years. But under the new regulations, the minimum penalty is five years of jail time. That’s because keeping a bawdy house is now classified as a “serious offence”, along with 10 gambling and drug crimes.

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By Antonia Zerbisias, The Star

 

It's hard to picture Claire Jones in bed with organized crime.

 

The curvy sex worker, who has been plying her prodigious assets for seven years now, could one day face five years in jail if she works with other “girls'' at her luxury downtown condo.

 

And she does, at least sometimes.

 

New regulations announced earlier this month by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, regulations aimed at strengthening “the ability of law enforcement to fight organized crime,'' put her at risk.

 

Enacted in the dead of summer without Parliamentary debate, the regulations give government the powers to wiretap, deny bail, and move in on people without the usual safeguards such as warrants. Read more »

Open Letters to Ministers & Public Officials

 

The Honourable Rob Nicholson

Minister of Justice

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

 

Dear Minister Nicholson,

 

I write to express my concern about your government’s recent announcement of regulatory changes to the Criminal Code, especially in regard to prostitution.

 

In 2007, the Parliamentary Sub-committee on Solicitation Laws, of which I was a member, heard from over 300 witnesses and examined available literature to come to the majority conclusion that current laws surrounding prostitution are harming women and men working in the sex trade.

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By: Mitchel Raphael, Macleans

 

NDP MP Libby Davies returned to Canada last week after attending the XVIII International AIDS conference in Vienna. Jet lag prevented her from attending a rally with iconic singer Annie Lennox, but she was the only North American MP to participate in the first-ever politicians panel at the conference.

 

Davies was pleased with the conference’s Vienna Declaration, which endorses drug harm-reduction models like the safe-injection health facility Insite located in her East Vancouver riding.

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The following exclusive interview, recorded by rabble.ca, took place between Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East, and Marc and Jodie Emery in January 2010 in Vancouver, days before his extradition was expected to take place. Marc, 52, was extradited to the US on May 20th to serve a five-year prison sentence for shipping marijuana seeds to Americans. This far-ranging interview covers the reasons for Emery's extradition, the war on drugs, Canadian sovereignty, and Marc's previous experience in prison.

Q - This is my first visit to the new Woodward's development. It is amazing to look at the big photograph from the Gastown riots.

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Libby Davies, NDP Spokesperson for Drug Policy and Vancouver East MP

 

“The raids on Canada’s Compassion Clubs are an attack on patient’s rights and must stop,” said NDP MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East).

 

After years of openly supporting medical marijuana users in their communities, a number of compassion clubs in Quebec and Toronto have been shut down.

 

The clubs serve patients with chronic illnesses and have emerged largely in response to the gaps and problems with federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations. The BC Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the program is unconstitutional and needs to be changed, yet the Conservatives have failed to respond beyond the most minimal legally necessary changes.

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By: Gloria Galloway , Globe and Mail

 

A plan by the Conservative government to reinvest money in AIDS research and prevention is being dismissed by the Liberals as a half measure layered with right-wing ideology.

 

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who is in Vienna this week at a major international AIDS conference, announced Tuesday the government will invest $60 million in the program – with half going to AIDS research and the other half to the maternal-health initiative Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced at last month’s G8 and G20 summits.

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West Van MP John Weston's bill to make buying legal products for illegal drug production a criminal offence is headed to the Senate.

 

Last week, the House of Commons passed third and final reading of Bill C-475 — a bill Weston stated deals with the growing problem of crystal meth and ecstasy.

 

The bill passed unanimously. Now its off to the Senate, where Weston recently met with key senators in the push to move it along quickly.

 

"We are hoping it could become law this year," Weston told The Outlook in April. Read more »

Today (June 9), MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East) sent the following letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon on the issue of the solitary confinement of Marc Emery.

 

June 8, 2010

 

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon

Minister of Foreign Affairs

418 N Centre Block

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

 

Dear Minister Cannon,

 

I write to ask for your immediate intervention into the seemingly harsh treatment of a Canadian citizen currently serving a sentence at the SeaTac Federal Detention Centre in Seattle, Washington.

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Today (June 9), MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East) sent the following letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon on the issue of the solitary confinement of Marc Emery. Read more »