Ms Fiona Wilson:

The provincial government was working on public consumption legislation that would have further restricted people's ability to use illicit drugs in public spaces. Between Christmas 2023 and new year of 2024, a nurses' organisation that assists people who use drugs applied for an interlocutory injunction in our British Columbia Supreme Court to halt the legislation. The judge, Chief Justice Hinkson, determined that indeed there was an argument that restricting public consumption infringed on the rights of people who use drugs because it put them arguably in more harmful situations because it would drive them indoors. I am being very general here, it was a lengthy decision. It was based on a violation of section 7 of our charter of rights and freedoms. The chief justice determined that the legislation would do more harm than good to the individuals it would be applied to, namely, people who use drugs.