Our recent coverage of safe injection sites and the work of frontline organizers has resonated deeply with the community, shedding light on a topic that often goes underreported. While much of the mainstream media coverage focuses on controversy, restrictions, or political debates, like recent proposals to limit safe injection sites with Bill 103, which organizers warn could effectively shut them down, our reporting sought to center the experiences of those directly involved: the workers, the volunteers, and the people relying on these services.
Since publishing, members of the community have thanked us, expressing that our reporting helped them understand how these sites actually operate and what the day-to-day realities are for the people who use and manage them. For some, this has been an opportunity to confront preconceived notions or prejudices about safe injection sites, demonstrating that informed coverage can challenge assumptions and foster empathy.
Organizers have also noted the practical impact of our work, telling us they plan to refer to our footage when explaining their sensitization campaigns and the scope of their work to others. In a media landscape where narratives about harm reduction are often filtered through political debate, this kind of representation, showing the human, nuanced side of harm reduction, is quite valuable.
Our coverage also counters the misleading rhetoric of high-profile political figures like Pierre Poilievre, who have described safe injection sites as dangerous “drug dens.” By amplifying the voices of those on the ground, our reporting challenges these narratives, offering an evidence-based perspective on the critical services these sites provide. In doing so, we aim not just to report, but to contribute to a broader understanding of public health, harm reduction, and the lives affected by these policies.
By giving visibility to people and organizations often overlooked in mainstream debates, we hope to foster informed dialogue, support harm reduction efforts, and highlight the human impact behind the headlines. In a field where misinformation can have real-world consequences, telling these stories responsibly becomes a service to the community itself.
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About LJI
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
