Brett Van Bergen
@mathewsbrett1.bsky.social
Organizer. Activist. Harm Reductionist.
Abbotsford Drug War Survivors Coordinator.
(he/him)
Abbotsford Drug War Survivors Coordinator.
(he/him)
My Opa went to a nazi concentration camp for hiding Jewish people in his home.
I really miss him, but am glad he isn’t seeing Nazism rise again.
I really miss him, but am glad he isn’t seeing Nazism rise again.
September 29, 2025 at 5:50 AM
My Opa went to a nazi concentration camp for hiding Jewish people in his home.
I really miss him, but am glad he isn’t seeing Nazism rise again.
I really miss him, but am glad he isn’t seeing Nazism rise again.
Puzzle making with the refugee kids in our building is beautiful stuff
September 29, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Puzzle making with the refugee kids in our building is beautiful stuff
I just voted for @emilylowan.bsky.social to lead the @bcgreens.bsky.social :)
September 17, 2025 at 4:08 AM
I just voted for @emilylowan.bsky.social to lead the @bcgreens.bsky.social :)
New profile pic what is it giving ?
August 26, 2025 at 3:12 AM
New profile pic what is it giving ?
And grad school has begun 🙃
(Imagine Mount Doom by Howard Shore playing)
(Imagine Mount Doom by Howard Shore playing)
August 24, 2025 at 5:43 PM
And grad school has begun 🙃
(Imagine Mount Doom by Howard Shore playing)
(Imagine Mount Doom by Howard Shore playing)
Our community lost one person to suicide and 2 others have been missing for over a month.
Shits heavy.
This isn’t how humans are meant to live. We are dying in a system meant to kill us.
Shits heavy.
This isn’t how humans are meant to live. We are dying in a system meant to kill us.
August 21, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Our community lost one person to suicide and 2 others have been missing for over a month.
Shits heavy.
This isn’t how humans are meant to live. We are dying in a system meant to kill us.
Shits heavy.
This isn’t how humans are meant to live. We are dying in a system meant to kill us.
Mine and my wives paintings :)
August 16, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Mine and my wives paintings :)
10 days until I’m a masters student 🥴
August 16, 2025 at 5:45 AM
10 days until I’m a masters student 🥴
You must be totally depraved of love and empathy to have these takes and we need to call them out for exactly what they are; Evil.
August 16, 2025 at 5:27 AM
You must be totally depraved of love and empathy to have these takes and we need to call them out for exactly what they are; Evil.
Being an activist w/ unhoused folks has taught me a lot.
One of the most clear things is that we don’t really have much human rights, as those without capital are stripped of most of them.
Rights are actually privileges when they are only for people with money.
One of the most clear things is that we don’t really have much human rights, as those without capital are stripped of most of them.
Rights are actually privileges when they are only for people with money.
August 15, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Being an activist w/ unhoused folks has taught me a lot.
One of the most clear things is that we don’t really have much human rights, as those without capital are stripped of most of them.
Rights are actually privileges when they are only for people with money.
One of the most clear things is that we don’t really have much human rights, as those without capital are stripped of most of them.
Rights are actually privileges when they are only for people with money.
Just watched my friend almost die from contaminated drugs. 6 narcans and cpr barely brought him back.
End the drug war, we need a regulated supply.
End the drug war, we need a regulated supply.
August 7, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Just watched my friend almost die from contaminated drugs. 6 narcans and cpr barely brought him back.
End the drug war, we need a regulated supply.
End the drug war, we need a regulated supply.
If you don’t like seeing homelessness, remember it’s a reflection of capitalisms failures.
That’s where your anger should lie.
That’s where your anger should lie.
August 5, 2025 at 4:23 AM
If you don’t like seeing homelessness, remember it’s a reflection of capitalisms failures.
That’s where your anger should lie.
That’s where your anger should lie.
Vancouver pride
August 4, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Vancouver pride
Canada and the US are continuing to ramp up the war on drugs.
The drug war is the reason the vast majority of people experiencing addiction (or just using drugs recreationally) die.
The drugs are poisoned.
The drug war is the reason the vast majority of people experiencing addiction (or just using drugs recreationally) die.
The drugs are poisoned.
August 3, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Canada and the US are continuing to ramp up the war on drugs.
The drug war is the reason the vast majority of people experiencing addiction (or just using drugs recreationally) die.
The drugs are poisoned.
The drug war is the reason the vast majority of people experiencing addiction (or just using drugs recreationally) die.
The drugs are poisoned.
Reposted by Brett Van Bergen
“To actually end the ongoing toxic drug crisis, Rufus-Sedgemore said, the government needs to bring back decriminalization, introduce a regulated safer supply that is more accessible and actually separates people from the unregulated supply, and create comprehensive drug education for kids.”
There is no evidence that decriminalization increased drug use. But there was an increase in homelessness that made more people visible while they used drugs, said Lindsay Frame, lawyer for a coalition of 13 drug user advocacy groups.
Drug User Advocacy Groups Challenge ‘Recriminalization’ in Court | The Tyee
Foes of decriminalization wrongly conflated it with poverty and the rise of homelessness, lawyer argues.
thetyee.ca
July 25, 2025 at 4:13 AM
“To actually end the ongoing toxic drug crisis, Rufus-Sedgemore said, the government needs to bring back decriminalization, introduce a regulated safer supply that is more accessible and actually separates people from the unregulated supply, and create comprehensive drug education for kids.”
Reposted by Brett Van Bergen
The mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God.
Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well.
forward.com/opinion/7575...
Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well.
forward.com/opinion/7575...
Gaza is starving. Where are the American Jewish leaders?
A fear of being labelled antisemitic still deters American Jews and Jewish institutions from taking a position that is morally correct.
forward.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:04 PM
The mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God.
Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well.
forward.com/opinion/7575...
Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well.
forward.com/opinion/7575...
Proud of what we did in court this week.
We need decriminalization and prescribed alternatives.
We need decriminalization and prescribed alternatives.
There is no evidence that decriminalization increased drug use. But there was an increase in homelessness that made more people visible while they used drugs, said Lindsay Frame, lawyer for a coalition of 13 drug user advocacy groups.
Drug User Advocacy Groups Challenge ‘Recriminalization’ in Court | The Tyee
Foes of decriminalization wrongly conflated it with poverty and the rise of homelessness, lawyer argues.
thetyee.ca
July 24, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Proud of what we did in court this week.
We need decriminalization and prescribed alternatives.
We need decriminalization and prescribed alternatives.
The point of the cruelty is to make empathetic people overwhelmed and hopeless.
Choose radical love in action instead.
Choose radical love in action instead.
July 4, 2025 at 12:42 AM
The point of the cruelty is to make empathetic people overwhelmed and hopeless.
Choose radical love in action instead.
Choose radical love in action instead.
The War on Drugs only adds to the harm.
The only groups benefiting from it are the police who continue to see budgets skyrocket because of it, and sometimes the politicians who pretend to be “tough on crime”.
(Actual crime reduction would be poverty reduction policies)
The only groups benefiting from it are the police who continue to see budgets skyrocket because of it, and sometimes the politicians who pretend to be “tough on crime”.
(Actual crime reduction would be poverty reduction policies)
February 18, 2025 at 3:29 AM
The War on Drugs only adds to the harm.
The only groups benefiting from it are the police who continue to see budgets skyrocket because of it, and sometimes the politicians who pretend to be “tough on crime”.
(Actual crime reduction would be poverty reduction policies)
The only groups benefiting from it are the police who continue to see budgets skyrocket because of it, and sometimes the politicians who pretend to be “tough on crime”.
(Actual crime reduction would be poverty reduction policies)
We will outlive and out love elon and trump❤️
February 18, 2025 at 1:28 AM
We will outlive and out love elon and trump❤️
Idk what’s harder to process.
The damage that our toxic drug and housing crisis are causing.
Or that they are largely solve-able, it would just mean policies that aren’t popular in neoliberal capitalist colonial states
The damage that our toxic drug and housing crisis are causing.
Or that they are largely solve-able, it would just mean policies that aren’t popular in neoliberal capitalist colonial states
January 4, 2025 at 4:56 AM
Idk what’s harder to process.
The damage that our toxic drug and housing crisis are causing.
Or that they are largely solve-able, it would just mean policies that aren’t popular in neoliberal capitalist colonial states
The damage that our toxic drug and housing crisis are causing.
Or that they are largely solve-able, it would just mean policies that aren’t popular in neoliberal capitalist colonial states
Today I had to let bylaw/police take unhoused peoples tents (homes) and all their possessions in the middle of a rain storm.
Our systems are just so broken, or (more likely) they are working exactly as they were made too and they’re just evil.
Our systems are just so broken, or (more likely) they are working exactly as they were made too and they’re just evil.
January 4, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Today I had to let bylaw/police take unhoused peoples tents (homes) and all their possessions in the middle of a rain storm.
Our systems are just so broken, or (more likely) they are working exactly as they were made too and they’re just evil.
Our systems are just so broken, or (more likely) they are working exactly as they were made too and they’re just evil.