For Immediate Release
WHAT: BCCLA to intervene in Brown v Alberta at Alberta Court of Appeal to argue closure of key health care services violates Charter rights of people who use drugs
WHEN: May 8, 2026 — 10:00 am MST/11:00 am PST
WHERE: Court of Appeal of Alberta
Edmonton, AB / Treaty 6 —The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) will intervene at the Court of Appeal of Alberta in Brown v Alberta. This appeal challenges the Alberta government’s 2024 decision to cease funding of overdose prevention services, including the Red Deer Overdose Protection Site, leading to the closure of the facility relied upon by people with substance use disorders, such as Aaron Brown.
In 2024, Mr. Brown sued the Alberta government seeking the Court’s intervention to prevent closing the OPS relied on by people who use drugs to avoid preventable deaths amidst the toxic drug crisis, and a declaration that such closures violate right to life under section 7, constitute cruel and unusual treatment or punishment under section 12; and discriminate against him, and others with substance use disorders, contrary to section 15 of the Charter. Mr. Brown was not successful at the Alberta Court of King’s Bench and appealed the decision.
BCCLA argues that when governments provide lifesaving health care services to a vulnerable population and individuals come to depend on those services for their survival, the government’s deliberate decision to eliminate those services by allowing funding to lapse is a state action capable of causing deprivation under section 7 of the Charter. The right at stake is not the right to health care or health care services, but the right to life and security of the person, which flows from the life-saving health benefits of supervised consumption services.
Jerome Igbokwe, BCCLA Staff Counsel, says:
“When governments choose to provide lifesaving health services to vulnerable people, and those individuals come to rely on them for survival, withdrawing that support is not neutral; it is state action with real consequences. This challenge is about preventing Governments from sidestepping Charter scrutiny by reframing their duties through the ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ right lens.”
BCCLA is represented by Rahool P. Agarwal and Andrea Galizia of Lax O’Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP.