Vehicle-for-Hire Driver Training
Parachute’s Vehicle-for-Hire Training program has been certified by the City of Toronto for Vehicle-for-Hire drivers in that city as of October 2022. Course registration is now open.
Drug checking: Harm reduction practices for unregulated drug use at Canadian music festivals (2024)
Each year, British Columbia is home to two of the largest electronic music festivals in Canada. At these events, drug use is an integral part of the culture and most attendees interact with drugs in one way or another. The death of at least five young adults in 2014 at music festivals in Canada, where drug use was likely a contributing factor, spurred a national effort to establish evidence-based harm reduction strategies for drug use at music festivals. Drug checking, a non-judgemental and nuanced chemical analysis of substances that allows people to know what is in their substances and potentially take action to reduce the risk of any related harms, emerged out of this work. In addition to potentially helping prevent substance-related toxicity, the analysis of drug checking data contributes to understanding of the types and contents of substances used in music festival settings.
Hosted by Sarah Macdonald from Parachute, this webinar will provide insight into the development of evidence-based harm reduction strategies at music festivals and share learnings from the implementation of drug checking, in particular. The webinar will include presentations from Antoine Marcheterre, Drug Checking Lead, Interior Health and Jarred Aasen, Pharmacist, Founder of Lantern Services and Co-Founder/Co-Author of the Drug Resource and Education (DRED) Project. A Q&A session will follow their presentations. With a focus on drug use prevalence and poison prevention at music festivals, the presentations will emphasize a philosophy of taking up non-prohibitive methods to keep people safe.
Presenters:
Antoine Marcheterre, Drug Checking Lead, Interior Health
Jarred Aasen, Licenced Pharmacist, Founder of Lantern Services, Co-Founder/Co-Author of the Drug Resource and Education (DRED) Project
Novel drug surveillance sources and current drug trends (2026)
Drug surveillance programs and data sources are an essential component of toxicovigilance. Hosted by Sarah Macdonald from Parachute, this webinar will feature experts from two drug surveillance programs.
Paula Migliardi, Program Specialist with Winnipeg Regional Public Health, and Dr. Sarah Lesperance, Medical Officer of Health with Manitoba and Winnipeg Regional Public Health, will share the surveillance and harm reduction efforts of the Street Connections program. Participants will hear about the program’s harm reduction approach and the region’s wider public health response, including drug checking services, surveillance data, trends identified and how to keep informed about reports, surveillance data and drug alerts.
Samantha Lancione, Senior Analyst, and Colin Steensma, Senior Epidemiologist, at the Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch of Health Canada, will provide an overview of the National Wastewater Drug Surveillance (NWDS) initiative and guide participants through the NWDS dashboard. Participants will learn about the dashboard’s key features, how wastewater data are used to inform drug surveillance, as well as current drug trends.
A Q&A session will follow the presentations.
Presenters:
Paula Migliardi
Program Specialist, Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction, Population and Public Health, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
Dr. Sarah Lesperance
Medical Officer of Health, Manitoba Health, Public Health & Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Public Health
Samantha Lancione
Senior Analyst, Office of Drug Research and Surveillance, Controlled Substances and Overdose Response Directorate, Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Health Canada
Colin Steensma
Senior Epidemiologist, Office of Drug Research and Surveillance, Controlled Substances and Overdose Response Directorate, Controlled Substances and Cannabis Branch, Health Canada
Trends in Canada's drug supply, polysubstance use and unintentional drug poisonings (2023)
Unintentional drug poisonings remain one of Canada’s most devastating public health issues. Hosted by Parachute and featuring presentations from Emily Biggar, Chealsea De Moor and Doris Payer from the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction, this webinar will provide an overview of emerging trends in Canada’s unregulated drug supply, polysubstance use and harms related to unintentional drug poisonings. Implications for reducing harms to people who use drugs and practising non-stigmatizing language around substance use will be highlighted.
Panelists
Emily Biggar, MPH
Research and Policy Analyst
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA)
Chealsea De Moor, MA
Knowledge Broker
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA)
Doris Payer, PhD
Senior Knowledge Broker
Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA)
Poison Prevention Week social media guide
National Poison Prevention Week aims to draw attention to the causes of poisoning and how to prevent them from occurring. This guide is to help communities and partners use social media to support and promote National Poison Prevention Week 2026! Throughout the month of March, including Poison Prevention Week, March 15 to 21, 2026, Parachute will be active […]
Poison Prevention Week
This Canada-wide awareness week, held annually during the third week of March, draws attentions to common causes of inadvertent poisoning.
BC Drug and Poison Information Centre (DPIC)
The BC Drug and Poison Information Centre operates a 24-hour poison information line, as well as a drug information line for BC healthcare professionals. The BC DPIC website provides information and resources on poisoning and prevention, and serves B.C. and Yukon.
Product safety
Learn about consumer product and child safety in Canada, including the regulation of window blind and curtain cords, BPA, lead and pesticides.
Drug-Impaired Driving Toolkit
The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) Drug-Impaired Driving Toolkit contains timely and important resources for new drivers and those involved in drivers’ education.
This toolkit aims to:
- Provide educators with the necessary information needed to increase awareness of the effects of drugs on one’s ability to safely drive.
- Inform interventions aimed at young drivers to help them reduce the harms associated with driving while impaired by drugs.
Poison and Drug Information Service (PADIS), Alberta
From Alberta Health Services, the webpage has information about PADIS services and answers to frequently asked questions. PADIS serves Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories.