Engagement around supervised consumption site will be ongoing, Wellness Centre says following criticism

Posted on December 6, 2024 by Peggy

After criticism about consultation around the proposed location for a planned supervised drug consumption site in Winnipeg, the non-profit that will run the site says engagement will be an ongoing process — and the premier says the province could consider a different location if needed.

“We’re coming, let’s talk,” said Monica Cyr, a senior director with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre who is overseeing the consumption site team.

The Manitoba government announced its plan to open a supervised drug consumption site, with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre steering its creation and development, in July, but did not disclose the planned location.

On Wednesday, the province confirmed it wants the site opened at 200 Disraeli Fwy., a building at the edge of south Point Douglas that’s across the street from Argyle Alternative High School.

That proposed location has since faced criticism from some residents, businesses and other organizations in the area, including the Manitoba Métis Federation, whose office is located across Henry Avenue from the site. Many said they haven’t yet been consulted on the proposal, or raised concerns about safety and whether the site will help address Manitoba’s drug crisis.

Under the federal government’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the approval process for a supervised consumption site requires consultation with any stakeholders within 500 metres of the proposed location. It also requires a report on that engagement with the neighbourhood.

Cyr acknowledges that more transparency around the location “could have definitely dissipated some of the heightened energy,” but said community engagement had to be done quickly in order to get the application for approval in.

The wellness centre took the lead from the provincial government when it came to rolling out the engagement plan around the site and its location, Cyr told CBC on Friday.

Aerial image of a long, black building, surrounded by snow — An application has been made to Health Canada to turn this building at 200 Disraeli Fwy. into Manitoba’s first supervised drug consumption site. (Gary Soilak/CBC)

Priority consultations were done with the school and daycares in the neighbourhood, as well as many Point Douglas residents around the proposed site, along with harm reduction and addiction supports groups like Main Street Project, Ka Ni Kanichihk, the Salvation Army and the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, Cyr said.

“Does that mean community engagement ends there? Absolutely not,” she said. “For us engagement is an ongoing dialogue.… There’s not an end date.”

As for safety in and around the site, Cyr said the centre is concerned for the well-being of everyone, and it’s a concern the community and the non-profit will need to tackle collaboratively.

“It takes many of us to come together and think about how are we going to create safety for each other and for people, certainly, who are going to be using the space as well,” she said.

Charlene Hallett, the health integration lead for the consumption site, agrees that safety is important for everyone inside and outside of the space, which will be fenced off for safety and the privacy of people accessing the site.

Hallett said she wants the people who use the space to feel comfortable.

“That very first step in the door of a health-care space can be the scariest for folks,” she said.

“We want to make sure that … [the consumption site is] a space where our relatives who come in, first and foremost, know that they are welcome, they are loved, and that we’re there to support them.”

Location not set in stone: Kinew

Premier Wab Kinew also assured people safety will be considered around the site.

“We’re going to have a police presence,” Kinew told reporters after a Christmas Cheer Board event on Friday.

“That’s why we’ve been talking to foot patrols about ensuring that some of those other issues — whether it’s just folks passing out outside, whether it’s drug dealers trying to prey, whether it’s human traffickers trying to prey on the people in the area — that we have a strong response.”

The proposed Disraeli Freeway location for the site is also not set in stone, Kinew said.

A man wearing a blue suit and with dark hair pulled back, speaks at a podium. — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says safety will be considered around the site. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)

“We are willing to go in a different direction if there is that degree of outcry from the community. On the flip side, though, if we can make this work and make it safe and save lives, then this is something that we’re willing to move forward on,” said Kinew.

“The reality is that we have a moral responsibility to respond to the drug crisis that is taking our loved ones from us.”

Last year, 445 suspected substance-related deaths were recorded in Manitoba, according to the province’s preliminary data. This year, from January to July — the most recent month for which preliminary data was available — there were 323.

The provincial government said in July it will provide $727,000 to support the development of the consumption site — part of the $2.5 million committed toward a site in the 2024 budget.