Producer, Oddfellows and Phobos / Board Chair, Overdose Prevention Society
Vancouver, British Columbia
Joined April 2014
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The film industry really steps up to help when we need it. Thanks you Sunbelt! This great mural project would not have been possible without them.
And just like that the lift is gone. Thank you Chris @oddfellowsent Trey would be proud and thanks to @SunbeltRentals as well.
Chris Ferguson retweeted
🚨Zohran Mamdani has built the Low-Proximity Magnetic Distortion System in NYC, the first in the city's history.
The LPMDS will offer a solution to all current and future storage and residential needs, and save billions of dollars on property construction and management.
Chris Ferguson retweeted
The thing I hate most about this early election call in B.C. is that once again, opportunistic politicians like @gavindew are posting cruel, non-consensual photos of unconscious people. As if the ability to post a photo to twitter somehow makes him qualified to fix the toxic drug crisis.
Similar politicians have tried. Let’s check in on the “Alberta Recovery Model” and see if politicians with no experience in addiction medicine or drug policy are right about the way to “fix” this wickedly complex problem.
REMINDER: Alberta has closed several overdose prevention sites citing community concerns over “public safety.” So … does the recovery-or-death model work?
Chris Ferguson retweeted
HBO Max has added a special Backrooms introduction to the movie instead of the usual HBO logo that shows before movies and TV shows.
Backrooms is now streaming on @hbomax for those in the US. Hopefully it will come to other countries soon
Video: u/Thegoodgamer32 on Reddit
Japan showing up at the bottom of the 9th to push us over 400
'Backrooms' Surpasses $400 Million at Global Box Office variety.com/2026/film/box-of…
Chris Ferguson retweeted
Here with Ken today at the Balmoral mural. Its a privilege to watch him work. @oddfellowsent
There’s not greater honour in the film industry than being put on a list.
Canada’s Top 25 Entertainment Dealmakers hollywoodreporter.com/busine…
Had to double check this article wasn’t satire.
Prison. That’s what we call locking people inside a correctional centre.
They're proposing putting people with addiction and mental health challenges in an actual correctional centre and calling it “mandatory care.”
That's not treatment, it's prison with a rebrand.
globalnews.ca/news/12048595/…
Chris Ferguson retweeted
I watched “Backrooms” for the second time in the theater. The second time around, my brain was able to keep up with what I was seeing, so I could take my time and really appreciate the film. While it doesn’t have the political overtones of the 1990s, the era after the end of the Cold War is reflected in the film in ways beyond just its hardware and media: the standardized, uniform office spaces, the dead-mall-like commercial facilities, and so on. I also bought the elaborate movie pamphlet. They gave me an A24 plastic bag, too. They also handed out an explanatory booklet at the entrance. Happinet is really doing a great job. The 16-minute “special film” after the end credits was also shown. (That one might be better left to the internet.) Since the film is rated “G” for all ages, there were noticeably quite a few parents with small children. After the screening, I heard a little girl say to her father, “It was scary. I might not be able to sleep tonight.” In another family, a little boy bombarded his father with questions: “The Backrooms are so huge. How did they make them? It has to be CG, right?” When his father didn’t answer, I almost leaned over and said, “It’s all sets,” but stopped myself. When he grows up, he’ll eventually find the truth for himself. It’s important to be inspired, to have “questions” and to sense that something is “strange” or doesn’t quite fit. This is the kind of film that makes you do that.
Chris Ferguson retweeted
How do you know it’s election season? Politicians start punching down on vulnerable people and the services keeping them alive.
I’ll be on 1150 AM at 8:35 this morning talking about Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas calling for the supervised consumption site to be shut down.
Correlation is NOT causation. Pointing to every police call, medical incident or problem occurring near a health service does not prove the health service caused it.
Close the site and addiction doesn’t disappear, drug use doesn’t disappear, and people don’t disappear.
They use somewhere else, in alleys, parks, bathrooms, businesses and alone, where nobody is there when an overdose happens.
Want safer communities? Invest in housing, treatment, recovery, mental-health care AND harm reduction.
You don’t create public safety by removing health care from the people who need it most.
It’s great to see Larry’s contract extended. He was pivotal in getting the Ashtray funded. I have high hopes to see a lot more from I’m in the months to come.
globalnews.ca/video/12047357…
Chris Ferguson retweeted
The province is extending the contract for former mayor and senator Larry Campbell to study solutions for the Downtown Eastside
Chris Ferguson retweeted
Think of the community amenities we’d get from building towers - the magnificent park Concord Pacific built at False Creek, the state-of-the-art community centre Wesgroup built at River District and the revitalized affordable social housing Holborn delivered at Little Mountain!
Chris Ferguson retweeted
Thanks for clarifying because you’ve basically confirmed my concern: the panel misled people.
Harm reduction services don’t “offer no path forward.” They connect people to health care, treatment, recovery services and other supports. Pretending otherwise is simply false.
Decriminalization? It wasn’t renewed. Yet somehow we’re still beating that dead horse. Sheesh, move on already.
Safer supply? Those programs have already been reconfigured and serve a relatively small number of people.
And the supposed “success story” of San Francisco converting supervised injection sites into recovery centres? San Francisco doesn’t even have sanctioned supervised consumption sites to convert.
So what exactly did this panel accomplish?
This is exactly what I’ve been saying: you cannot have a serious conversation about addiction and recovery when the conversation starts with misinformation.
It wasn’t productive. It was a waste of time and worse, misinformation like this causes real harm to people who are struggling and to the services trying to help them.
Happy to answer, Guy. On failure: the panel pointed to decriminalization, safe supply, and harm-reduction models that offer no path forward — citing years of rising deaths, overdoses, and disorder under those policies. On success: San Francisco's shift toward enforcement paired with converting injection sites into recovery centres.
Chris Ferguson retweeted
Well this is disappointing, to say the least. Apparently there was a “public safety roundtable” organized by ABC Vancouver yesterday (International Overdose Awareness Day). But it doesn’t appear it was open to the public at all … only to invited guests and people who share the mayor’s narrow opinions on the drug crisis.
None of these panel participants actually work in recovery services in Vancouver, and judging by the social media content they’re producing, they don’t even know anything about how to access it (there’s a single phone number!)
TO STATE THERE IS NO PATHWAY OUT OF ADDICTION IS FALSE.
And what, for the love of all that’s holy, is the “status quo”? There’s no such thing.
➡️ The contents of the illicit drug supply are constantly changing
➡️ The rate of overdose is constantly changing
➡️ The number of recovery beds and programs is growing
➡️ Life-saving harm reduction programs in Vancouver are being limited.
So nope. This supposed “status quo” that isn’t working doesn’t exist. Looks like this round table was just more political rhetoric in an echo chamber. A total waste of time, when what we need are real solutions that work.
And Julian, this is why you don’t deserve an apology from me for saying you spread misinformation. BECAUSE YOU DO.
I was in the room today for the panel discussion with Mayor Sim and Dr. Summers and Dr. Sabet on Vancouver's drug crisis, and I have to say — it was one of the most honest conversations I've been part of on this issue.
For years this topic felt untouchable. Say the wrong thing and you're labelled uncaring. Ask the wrong question and you're shouted down. Today, that wall came down a little. People spoke plainly about what's failed, what hasn't worked, and what real recovery actually requires. Doctors, business owners, mothers, people in recovery themselves — all in the same room, willing to say the hard things out loud.
This is exactly what we've needed. Not more silence, not more managing the status quo — real conversation, grounded in evidence and compassion, aimed at prevention and recovery.
Recovery Over Management isn't just my line anymore. Today it felt like the room's line too.
#900Helmcken #RecoveryOverManagement #vanpoli #bcpoli
Chris Ferguson retweeted
Oddfellows, under the leadership of @oddfellowsent, continues to be a major success story for #Vancouver and #HollywoodNorth.
dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc…
