Safety concerns plague proposed supervised drug site

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This article was published 16/01/2025 (233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sheila Page wants to know how the provincial government plans to keep staff and children safe at an inner-city school if Manitoba’s first proposed supervised consumption site opens in the neighbourhood.

She’s served on the board of Children’s House Montessori School, a nursery and kindergarten-age program run out of 150 Pacific Ave. — less than a 10-minute walk away from the proposed site’s 200 Disraeli Fwy. location, for 30 years.

On Thursday, she said she made her concerns known at a community consultation meeting organized by the government, but her questions weren’t addressed.

“We’re already dealing with confrontational behaviour at our school… (and) cleaning up garbage and debris at our school,” Page told the Free Press outside the meeting.

“We need to know if there are going to be resources available to us — funding, training, manpower, whatever — to deal with any potentially increasing disruptive behaviour.”

Twenty or so people who work or live in Point Douglas attended the meeting at the Sport Manitoba building on Pacific Avenue. It was billed as a chance for residents to discuss the proposed site and contribute to a safety strategy “to ensure the plan serves everyone,” in a letter sent to community members.

The Free Press and other media were denied access to the meeting by a staff member from the office of Bernadette Smith, the housing, addictions and homelessness minister.

Page said she wishes representatives from the Winnipeg Police Service or Downtown Community Safety Patrol had been present to address the meeting and answer questions.

“If the police and community organizations or safety patrols are going to keep people safe within that area, right around the consumption site, what happens to the people outside the consumption site?” she said.

“What happens if somebody goes to the consumption site, decides to use drugs, doesn’t want to take advantage of the wraparound services, and walks out into the community — which is us?”

The minister, who was at the meeting, later told reporters she gets the message, adding the safety patrol and police are involved in the planning process and more consultation sessions, including a town hall meeting, will be held. Specific dates weren’t given.

“We know that safety is a concern, and we’ve certainly heard that,” she said. “And with the work that we’ve been doing, that’s been the utmost concern for our government.”

As per federal government rules, Manitoba has applied to operate the supervised consumption site, which is set to be managed by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg. The federal website says the application remains under review “awaiting key information.”

Manitoba recorded 323 suspected overdoses or drug poisonings from Jan. 1, 2024 to July 31 2024, as per the most recent preliminary data provided by the chief medical examiner. There were a record 467 deaths in 2022 and 445 deaths in 2023.

In addition to allowing supervised drug use, the site would offer addictions treatment, mental health supports and primary care services. There are plans for a 2.5-metre-tall fence around the building.

Smith said the province is considering other locations, but wouldn’t reveal potential sites.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he will close all supervised drug consumption sites near schools if he becomes prime minister in an election to be held this year. Smith said the province would continue to work within federal government rules.

“It could take up to two years to get this approved, and right now, it’s an emergency,” she said. “People are dying at higher rates in our province, so we put this application in, knowing that it could take some time.”

Sharon Johnson, who has lived in North Point Douglas for 16 years, attended Thursday’s meeting. She’d like to see the province focus on clear and consistent communication with neighbourhood residents to prevent misinformation.

“I think there hasn’t been a lot of excellent communication between what they want to build and what the community is hearing, so it’s really left the community to kind of run wild with their imagination about how many terrible things can happen,” she said.

“I do believe that they are doing this from an evidence-based approach, but I think they need to communicate that better.”

She said she was “excited” to learn more about the site.

“I feel like everything that’s helping people who are the poorest has been cut from this city, and there are no longer any public spaces, and there’s no longer any public safe spaces for people to occupy,” she said.

“So for me, this is a big win to have a space available for people to go into and get connected with all these things.”

Community consultation is required under federal rules for a supervised consumption site.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca