Team

Based in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal, Québec), Alexandra is a recent graduate of the Master of Social Work program at McGill University. As a current staff member of the Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs (CAPUD), she works as a Knowledge Mobilization Expert for the National Safer Supply Community of Practice (NSS-CoP). She also serves as the Chapter Liaison of the National Board of the Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) and as a writer, editor, translator, and social media and communications lead for The Drug Hub. In addition to these roles, she works as a translator for several harm reduction projects across the country. As a person with living expertise of drug use, she is passionate about harm reduction, drug policy, decriminalization, and abolition.

Based in Skwxwú7mesh , xʷməθkwəy̓əm , and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh territory (aka Vancouver, BC) Clem is a registered clinical counsellor and knowledge translator at Dr. Peter Center. Clem has a combined 15 years of experience in housing support, outreach in DTES community and compassionate care for people living with HIV. He is a contributor to UPHNS community of practice and co-facilitator of harm reduction and trauma-informed care trainings. A passionate harm reduction advocate and social justice activist.

Based in lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ territory (Victoria, BC), Corey is a registered nurse and clinical nurse lead for the Victoria SAFER Initiative. He is also a board of directors for the HIV Legal Network.

Currently living in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal, Québec), Frankie Lambert is the communication officer at L’Association Québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD), a provincial organization that brings together people who use drugs and who aspire to promote their health, prevent sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections, and improve their living conditions. As a person of color, drug user and former sex worker, Frankie lives by the philosophy of harm reduction and transformative justice. He also has a passion for decriminalization and activism.

Matthew currently resides in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. He is the program coordinator with the Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs (CAPUD), a National Board member with Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP), and a knowledge translator for the Dr. Peters Centre. His freelance writing has appeared in publications including Policy Options, The Conversation, CATIE and The Coast. He is also a Canadian Editorial Consultant for Filter Magazine based out of New York. He is a current drug user and a formerly incarcerated person.

Based in Skwxwú7mesh , xʷməθkwəy̓əm , and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh territory (aka Vancouver, BC), Patrick has been working in the field of HIV and harm reduction since 2008. Originally from Halifax, Patrick moved to Vancouver in 2010 and works at the Dr. Peter Centre, which provides care and support services to people living with HIV. Patrick facilitates a Canadian supervised consumption / overdose prevention site service providers video call. He also serves as the co-chair for the Pacific AIDS Network’s board of directors.

Spent the last 14 years working as a nurse in community health, infectious disease, clinical education and shelter/street outreach programs practicing a harm reduction philosophy of care. Rachael is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health through the University of Victoria.

Currently residing on lək̓ʷəŋən territory (Victoria, BC), Stephanie is passionate about health equity, decriminalization, and harm reduction informed drug policy. She is working towards her Master’s of Science in the Social Dimensions of Health program at the University of Victoria, her thesis is focussed on Ontario’s safe injection facility policy under the Ford government.

Dylan is a queer artist, front line worker, and settler working and living in Tio’tia: ke / Mooniyang / Montréal. They are a writer for L’Injecteur at L’Association Québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD). Dylan uses their lived experience with drug use and PTSD to advocate for harm reduction and meaningful participation of people who use drugs in policy and practice. They run support groups that centre people who use drugs in their community as alternatives to abstinence based groups and overdose grief groups. They have made art for several years including for Stimulus: Drugs, Policy, and Practice, Quebec Harm Reduction Conference, AQPSUD, made a project by and for people who use drugs to raise funds for Toronto Overdose Prevention Society, and collaborated with harm reduction organizations to make overdose memorials across Canada during the overdose crisis.

Based in Skwxwú7mesh , xʷməθkwəy̓əm , and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh territory (aka Vancouver, BC), Savannah Swann is the Knowledge Translation and Evaluation Officer at the Dr. Peter Centre. She has experience in community-based participatory research in the fields of Indigenous wellness and student mental health. Savannah is a crisis responder at the Fraser Health Crisis Line and a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Options Community Services.