Sign in

Liam Michaud

@liammichaud.bsky.social
315 followers 567 following 44 posts

researcher on drug policy & law | phd candidate in socio-legal studies | former community harm reduction worker | Tkaronto, Treaty 13

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Erika Shaker @ershaker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
www.thestar.com/news/investi... ‘In a statement sent via email, a spokesperson for Kerzner said the province is investing $3 billion to increase jail capacity “as part of the government’s plan to strengthen the bail system and keep dangerous offenders behind bars.”‘
thestar.com
The Ford government quietly changed its building code, clearing the way for more triple-bunking in Ontario’s overcrowded jails
Ontario quietly eliminated minimum sleep-area rules for jails, clearing the way for triple-bunking in overcrowded facilities.
202
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 01/10/2026
pressprogress.ca/key-parts-of... “Recent reporting has uncovered that the VPD inspector who at one time enthusiastically worked with DULF was the same person to approve an investigation into the group once political tides had turned.”
pressprogress.ca
Key Parts of Canada’s Drug Laws Found Unconstitutional as Judge throws out Charges Against Founders of Vancouver ‘Compassion Club’
Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) co-founders won’t go to jail as BC Supreme Court judge rules CSDA violates members’ “right to life and security”
0105
Reposted by Liam Michaud
godless dustbin 👻 @godfrey.work · 29/09/2026
"You selflessly put yourselves to the side for this cause, and that's something most people wouldn't do. For that, I applaud you. You should be proud of yourselves," she says to Kalicum and Nyx. "You put your lives on hold for many valuable years, and I can see this process has is worn you down."
115429
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Guy Felicella @guyfelicella.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🚨 BREAKING NEWS: A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of DULF in its constitutional challenge. This is HUGE for harm reduction and the fight for a safer alternative to the toxic unregulated drug supply. More to come… www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Judge rules in favour of B.C. compassion club founders convicted of drug trafficking | CBC News
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of two harm-reduction activists convicted of drug trafficking who argued they were doing it to reduce the harms caused by toxic drugs.
35419
Reposted by Liam Michaud
P.O.W.E.R. @policeoversight.ca · 28/09/2026
“I’m happy to take you for a coffee,” Heard told Kalicum [DULF's co-founder] on May 23. Just four months later, Heard would notify sergeant Mike Cheah, the lead investigator on the DULF file, that he was recommending Wilson approve the investigation plan: www.defactomedia.ca/how-vancouve...
defactomedia.ca
How Vancouver police turned against DULF
Court records show the same inspector who encouraged the compassion club’s founders also approved the investigation that led to raids on their homes
034
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Congrats on the new gig, Ryan!
010
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Natasha Tusikov @ntusikov.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
New from me: Canadian doctors are rushing to adopt AI medical scribes, but there are serious problems with accuracy, bias, transcription error, & reliance on industry data. Many scribes aren't regulated, leaving doctors to figure out risks like privacy & bias. www.cigionline.org/articles/can...
cigionline.org
Canada’s AI Strategy for Health Care Won't Work without Oversight to Match
Before AI can deliver on its health-care promise, Canada needs to close the gap between adoption and regulation.
23728
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 01/08/2026
Hey everyone, I have some news: I'm creating a new project today called @thewatchdog.ca The Watchdog's editorial mission is to protect the public and defend democracy through original public interest watchdog journalism. Sign up here as it gets ready to launch: www.thewatchdog.ca/p/sign-up
thewatchdog.ca
Sign Up For The Watchdog
The Watchdog protects the public and defends democracy through original public interest watchdog journalism.
21552217
Reposted by Liam Michaud
The Breach @breachmedia.ca · 30/07/2026
A new investigation by @drugdatadecoded.ca and David Slater reveals how universities in Canada coordinated to spy on and violently remove their students’ anti-genocide encampments. Then, they denied the existence of records, delayed their release, and deleted chats. breachmedia.ca/canadian-uni...
breachmedia.ca
Canadian universities set up a secret network to crack down on student Palestine demonstrators ⋆ The Breach
Universities in Canada coordinated to spy on and violently clear student encampments. Then, they deleted the evidence
6194138
Reposted by Liam Michaud
godless dustbin 👻 @godfrey.work · 13/07/2026
as DULF dominated the news cycle, and as they planned their high profile raid, the VPD claimed in FOI responses that no emails about DULF were sent to or from several senior officers for two of those officers, that wasn't true @defactomedia.ca www.defactomedia.ca/vpd-emails-f...
defactomedia.ca
VPD claimed no emails sent to or from senior cops about compassion club ahead of raid. That’s untrue
Freedom-of-information advocates say force's non-response likely broke BC’s transparency law — and ask if Vancouver police should undergo ‘greater scrutiny’ for public transparency
23421
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Workshops4Gaza @workshops4gaza.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
An emergency. Please donate chuffed.org/project/1132...
This week, The Sameer Project had to let go of 15 people, reduce most of the salaries of our team on the ground and switch some team members part-time. This is due to a HUGE drop in donations at a time where material support is extremely needed in Gaza. Urgent support is needed:
190149
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Unpaywalled link here archive.ph/vJHWJ
archive.ph
000
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Cool, now automated tech with “embedded demographic biases” are responsible for determining people’s freedom and living conditions. A system that was sold to us on the basis of “removing human bias” will basically be a redeployment of decades of racist risk assessment on steroids.
110
Reposted by Liam Michaud
International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) @idpc.net · 08/07/2026
How does drug control fuel surveillance, and how can we build safety instead? Join us for a participatory roundtable on algorithmic policing and avenues for advocacy, resistance and accountability. 22 July, 15:00 CEST EN ⇄ PT Register & share: ow.ly/hNio50ZlzMe
002
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
"Fourteen Years in Prison for Quoting Hamas? New Law Could Criminalise Journalists" Starmer is rushing legislation through parliament that experts say threatens free speech, reports Paul Holden for Zeteo UK. Read/share/subscribe:
zeteouk.substack.com
Fourteen Years in Prison for Quoting Hamas? New Law Could Criminalise Journalists
Starmer is rushing legislation through parliament that experts say threatens free speech, public interest journalism and international humanitarian aid.
32576234
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
😮 This is the best thing I’ve watched all year thank you
130
Reposted by Liam Michaud
ProPublica @propublica.org · 17/06/2026
ProPublica spoke to dozens of people who had lived in homeless encampments when cities cleared them out in “sweeps.” We distributed notecards so people could tell us about the toll in their own words. ➡️ This is what they wrote: propub.li/4veRIqA
Handwritten notecard. Prompt at the top asks: What object was most devastating for you to lose, and how have you been coping? Answer below: Dentures. Were thrown away and coping isn't somthing I can do. It’s made me feel ugly, unworthy, can’t go get a job with no teeth. So how can get off the streets until another pair can be made?
442320844
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Kim Siever @kimsiever.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
A new bill set to be introduced by the Carney government removes a provision in a previous bill that would have recognized that First Nations have a human right to clean drinking water www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...
ctvnews.ca
New First Nations water bill drops mention of 'right' to clean water access
A new First Nations clean water bill set to be introduced by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government removes a provision in a previous bill that would have recognized First Nations have a human right ...
13148107
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Robyn Maynard @policingblack.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Montreal cops abusing Black and Arab populations and keeping Black folks hair and dreadlocks as “trophies.” The legacy of slavery is ongoing in this country. www.tvanouvelles.ca/2026/06/12/s...
tvanouvelles.ca
01814
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
💜 love and solidarity to everyone resisting and surviving consumptive capitalism and social murder #fifa #worldcup www.theguardian.com/football/202...
theguardian.com
Vancouver’s World Cup has come with a supercharged policing campaign, residents say
In the Downtown Eastside neighborhood nearby BC Place, advocates have noted tactics and displacement that are putting lives at risk
141
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
“Community policing”
031
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Diana Chan McNally @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Creating AI profiles of offenders is utterly dystopian and could exacerbate biases and violate both offenders and victims rights if information is hallucinated, omitted, or incorrect. This is not an area where we need to feign efficiency by using AI.
thestar.com
Carney government testing use of AI in prisons to create profile reports of offenders
Mentioned in documents tabled in Parliament and confirmed by Correctional Service Canada, the test run comes as the Carney government tries to ramp up AI adoption.
14722
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Important read and reminder about how junk science continues to feed institutional violence and state-sanctioned kidnapping of children
filtermag.org
Ten Years After Motherisk, Parents Who Use Drugs Still Punished - Filter
It’s been 10 years since Canadians learned that a trusted children’s hospital had been supplying child welfare agencies and courts ...
000
Reposted by Liam Michaud
🔫🎃Scott Martian Invaders 🎃🛼 @youcaughtscott.com · 23/04/2026
NEW: Ford's Progressive Conservatives have passed their omnibus bill protecting the premier, his cabinet and staffers from FOI requests. In the midst of an onslaught against democratic systems, Ford is insulating himself and his cronies from public consequences. Read the latest:
readthecatch.ca
Ford Restricts Transparency in Ontario
The Ontario government's autocratic moves now have less opportunities for scrutiny
12622
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Diana Chan McNally @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
80% of people in an Ontario jail haven't been convicted of a crime. “This lays waste to the principle of the presumption of innocence. It also lays waste to the argument we have a catch and release system and that our bail is too lenient.” globalnews.ca/news/1177401...
globalnews.ca
Ontario correctional facilities operating at 130% capacity as overcrowding worsens | Globalnews.ca
New documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show Ontario's correctional facilities are overflowing, with no sign the situation will improve.
12925
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Euan Thomson @drugdatadecoded.ca · 19/03/2026
Don’t stop talking about how the AB government snuck a fraudulent study past peer review, which Doug Ford then used to justify closing down ON’s supervised consumption sites, while a SK conservative MP used it to call for the same in his province. AB-SK-ON in lockstep since 2024 Recovery conference
Alberta, Ontario, Sask. announce partnership to create recovery-focused addictions treatment

Critics denounce Alberta government's refusal of safe supply


Brendan Coulter · CBC News ·
14733
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
I wish our conversations about MAID and state facilitated suicide engaged with how much inadequate pain management and concerns/fears about caregiver “burden” motivates so many people’s decisions. It’s heartbreaking and enraging, and that the policy framing excludes these questions is deliberate.
040
Reposted by Liam Michaud
godless dustbin 👻 @godfrey.work · 18/02/2026
while the BCNDP was caving to the diversion moral panic and severely limiting its safe supply program, the public safety ministry was acknowledging in budget preparation documents that hydromorphone only accounted for 0.3% of VPD drug seizures by weight
15739
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Andrea Woo @andreawoo.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
STAT News: Christian group in Washington state announces potentially landmark settlement recognizing harm reduction services, including syringe exchange, as protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/n...
statnews.com
Landmark settlement could create new protections for harm reduction under disability law
A Christian group announced a potentially landmark legal settlement that the ACLU says could establish new federal protections for harm reduction services.
1113
Reposted by Liam Michaud
karen ward @kwardvancouver.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
we have become so inured to mass death that it is immediately exploited to advance reactionary agendas, scapegoat vulnerable minorities, and calls for political violence are louder than the mourning of the bereaved. and mass death continues
24615
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Beatrice Adler-Bolton @reallandsend.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
So incredibly honored & humbled to be in conversation with @silkys13.bsky.social & @harshawalia.bsky.social tomorrow night for a @haymarketbooks.org discussion on abolition, fighting "crisis at the border" rhetoric/federal occupation with insurgent care & what this moment demands of us/our movements
13516
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Transnational Institute @tninstitute.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Fascism doesn’t rise by accident: it’s organised through capitalism, fear, and targeted wars on migrants, drugs, and people in poverty. Read our State of Power 2026 opening interview with @harshawalia.bsky.social and Alberto Toscano. www.tni.org/en/article/l...
04631
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Robyn Maynard @policingblack.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I have a new chapter in the 2026 edition of Policing Black Lives on how police reform has expanded police power to surveil, monitor and criminalize Black communities for 70+ years now. Did you know in Canada community policing (first in parkdale, in Toronto ) has been a “reform” since the 1960s?
09230
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Euan Thomson @drugdatadecoded.ca · 31/01/2026
📣📣📣 Vindictive UCP government coming after the last remaining safe supply prescribee in Alberta after she beat them in court in 2023.
0109
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.” That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
262206378516
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Nora Loreto @nolore.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Canadian-built Roshel armored vehicles are being used by ICE right now in Minneapolis, including in today's operation where ICE murdered someone else. I wrote about this company in December. And we know this thanks to the work of World Beyond War Canada. noraloreto.substack.com/p/canadian-b...
noraloreto.substack.com
Canadian-built machines of war
“As we move from fighting the war to fighting the peace, I think we really have to see this as an opportunity for an economic renaissance" - Chrystia Freeland
5223154
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
some folks we spoke to speak to this point and pitch ideas around legalization / regulation & broader CDSA reform that isn't limited to simple possession but takes a more holistic and economic+racial+social justice approach ... but i think what you're pointing to needs to be among the next steps.
010
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Totally agreed. That’s why the study calls for a departure from piecemeal tinkering of the CDSA and a more substantive overhaul. Current distinction between possession for purposes and trafficking undermines economic survival and liberation.
100
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Report avail. here: 
EN www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/its-not... 
 FR 
www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/its-not...
hivlegalnetwork.ca
It’s Not So Simple – HIV Legal Network
010
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
-Simple possession charges in many jurisdictions remain unchanged despite reforms aimed at limiting their use.
110
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
-Public drug use is a safety strategy in the absence of alternative spaces. -Enforcement creates displacement & dispersal, and undermines the right to health. -An increase in trafficking offenses in many jurisdictions.
100
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Among the findings: -Harm reduction strategies (scales, separate packages) are criminalized as trafficking, as are ethical practices among people who supply / distribute / sell drugs to mitigate OD risk.
200
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Sharing this study we did, released in the Fall, charting the impacts of drug possession & trafficking laws in ONT on health, shifts in enforcement/prosecutions & people’s perspectives on what's needed at this juncture to overhaul Cdn drug laws #drugsky #onpoli @hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social y.social
y.social
132
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Julie S. Lalonde @julieslalonde.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
I teach bystander intervention for a living and have taught de-escalation to law enforcement. Trust me when I say that bottle girls, gas station clerks, strippers, front desk employees at hotels and airports, baristas, etc. have better de-escalation skills than any cop I've ever seen.
654142859
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Doctors for Safer Drug Policy @dsdp.ca · 26/11/2025
We Refuse: Health Workers Against Involuntary Care is now public. @hrna.bsky.social and DSDP are circulating a joint statement opposing BC’s plan to expand involuntary drug treatment. This approach is ineffective, increases overdose risk, violates autonomy, and harms marginalized communities.
A raised fist, clenched in power. Text reads: "WE REFUSE: Health Workers Against Involuntary Care. A joint statement and call to action from Harm Reduction Nurses Association and Doctors for Safer Drug Policy."

Below that are logos for HRNA and DSDP.
13926
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Got my Freedom-Of-Information request back from Ontario Ministry of Health about supervised consumption site closures from 15 months ago and it is all redacted under 'cabinet confidence' and 'advice to government' 🤡🤡🤡 #FOI #freedomofinformation #onpoli
074
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Robyn Maynard @policingblack.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Canadian products being used to commit war crimes in Gaza, Sudan, and the Caribbean, but stopping this apparently wrong because it would hurt the arms industry and relations with the fascists south of the border. We are governed by ghouls. www.readthemaple.com/liberals-fea...
readthemaple.com
Liberals Fear Closing Arms Export Loophole Would Anger U.S.
A leaked briefing document gives the full picture behind the government’s talking points.
03414
Reposted by Liam Michaud
Elaine Hyshka @ehyshka.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Under the Compassionate Intervention Act, people with substance use disorder can be forced to take any prescription medication without consent. It doesn't matter if they have decisional capacity. While doctors are involved, ultimately a lawyer gets to decide what the treatment order will be. #ableg
12917
Liam Michaud @liammichaud.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Honoured! :)
000