A complex look at a community at risk, by three people who have seen it on the ground

In this mix of history, journalism, political analysis, and first-person accounts, former chief coroner and Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell, renowned criminologist Neil Boyd, and investigative journalist Lori Culbert, offer a portrait of one of North America’s poorest, most drug-challenged neighbourhoods: Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

A Thousand Dreams raises provocative questions about the challenges confronting not only Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside but also all of North America’s major cities and offers concrete, urgently needed solutions, including:

• Continued support for Insite, the safe injection site
• Decriminalization of prostitution and drugs
• The transfer of addiction services to the Health Ministry, allowing detox into the medical system
• More government-funded SROs and more affordable social housing