Chinatown changes tune after seeing good results
Before the Insite drug-injection facility opened, it was the target of fierce opposition from Vancouver's Chinatown community. There are still opponents, but city councillor George Chow is no longer among them.
In the 2002 mayoral race, Mr Chow received unprecedented support from the Chinese community with his campaign to keep the facility out of Vancouver. But his 20,000 votes were only one-third of the number who voted for the winner, former chief coroner Larry Campbell, who championed the facility.
Three years later at the next election, Mr Chow ran for a city council position with a party backing the site. 'The results that have come out in the last three years prove that the fears we had in the beginning were unfounded,' Mr Chow said.
Chinese University of Hong Kong professor of sociology Cheung Yuet-wah, who has studied the drugs issue in Canada and in Hong Kong, said the Chinese community was the group most hostile to the idea of opening the facility.
The Downtown Eastside is next to Chinatown and prior to its opening, residents marched in protest against the facility.
On a Vancouver radio show phone-in, Professor Cheung talked about the potential benefits of the site before the facility opened. He remembers being the lone voice. 'One caller said addicts should be put on an island and left there to die. There were very open and visible antagonistic attitudes at the time.'
Albert Fok, chairman of the Chinatown Merchants Association in Vancouver, said: 'There are still die-hards who say it should be shut down, but I cautiously support the site because I have seen the change.'
