Supervised consumption site expected this year will ‘definitely’ open before NDP’s first term ends, addictions minister says
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The province will have a supervised consumption site before the next election, Manitoba’s addictions minister promised Friday after unveiling a memorial stone to those who’ve died of drug overdoses.
Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith told reporters that the government isn’t going to rush the establishment of an overdose prevention site.
“We want to do our due diligence in terms of consulting, making sure that we’re getting it right,” Smith said on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature after an International Overdose Awareness Day rally.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said the government isn’t going to rush the establishment of an overdose prevention site.
Last month, Smith said the province was “forging ahead” with opening a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg this year. On Friday, she was asked again about an opening date — if it might not be until next year or later in the government’s four-year mandate, which is nearly half over.
“Definitely before the first term is over,” she told reporters.
“I can tell you that we are working towards it and we are continuing to consult with community,” Smith said.
A proposed site at 200 Disraeli Fwy. raised concerns in the spring over its proximity to a school and a daycare.
“Safety and security is always a priority,” she said, adding the site needs to provide access to primary health care, mental health, addiction and housing supports “so that we can get people stabilized.”
“Having those supports within the supervised consumption site is very important for us to make sure that we’re doing it properly,” she said.
Smith said Manitoba can learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions. In March, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government closed nine of the province’s 23 supervised consumption sites because of their proximity to schools and child-care centres.
Before forming government in October 2023, the Manitoba NDP railed against the former PC administration for refusing to consider a supervised consumption site, arguing that lives were being lost to contaminated street drugs because of the Tories’ inaction.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Elder Mike Pierre sings and drums while the memorial stone is unveiled at ceremony Friday.
Smith, who’s often talked about the desperate need for harm reduction after losing relatives to overdose deaths, shared at Friday’s rally how she nearly lost her daughter nearly five years ago.
The Point Douglas MLA said her daughter was 17 at the time and “had made a wrong choice.”
The teen — who Smith didn’t name — and her 18-year-old boyfriend were drinking at a park near their house and called someone to bring them marijuana, Smith said.
“This guy had offered them a pill,” she said, explaining that the pill had been laced with the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Smith rushed home from an event after her husband called her to say he thought their daughter had alcohol poisoning.
“When I got in the house, I recognized that it wasn’t an alcohol poisoning,” she said.
And although she was trained to administer naloxone — a fast-acting medication that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose — she never expected she’d need it for her daughter.
“There was foam coming out of her mouth. Her eyes were at the back of her (head) and she was struggling to breathe. She was in and out of consciousness,” Smith said, recalling that she told her husband to call 911, and the fire department and paramedics arrived in time to help her.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
The new memorial stone with tobacco sprinkled over its enscription.
“My daughter was lucky. I was lucky. My daughter’s still here,” she said. “But I know a lot of moms aren’t, and I know a lot of families aren’t.”
“So I just want you to know that I am working hard as your minister, that our government is working hard, because we don’t want to lose any more people. We know that we need to get a supervised consumption site. I want to tell you today that we are moving forward.”
As the crowd cheered one person yelled, “It’s about time!”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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