Temporary supervised drug consumption site could open within weeks, addictions minister says

Manitoba’s long-promised supervised drug consumption site may finally be operating within the next few weeks, Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said Thursday.

The facility is, initially, expected to be run out of a mobile clinic or trailer parked at the west Exchange District site — a Henry Avenue warehouse — the provincial government purchased for a permanent facility.

The province has been waiting for approval from Health Canada to legally open the site as a safe, supervised place for people to inject their own illegal drugs in an effort to reduce the number of overdoses.

The hope is to have the permanent site inside the building, which will be operated as a medical clinic managed by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, open by next winter, Smith said.

She told reporters at the legislature Thursday that the province has been advised it can operate a site based on “urgent public need” while it awaits permit approval. Staff at the temporary facility will respond to overdoses and direct people to treatment and other supports.

In response to the overdose crisis in Canada, exemptions to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act are allowed for designated persons and staff members when there is an urgent public health need.

“We’ve had several consultations with community,” Smith said. “We’ve taken that feedback and we’re ready to move forward.”

The province has been in talks with the federal government about establishing a supervised consumption site since the NDP took office in the fall of 2023, she said.

“We’ve been working with them all along and we’ve been advised by them that this is the fastest way to get one set up.”

“We’ve had several consultations with community… We’ve taken that feedback and we’re ready to move forward.”

The province is making sure security is in place, and is working with the Winnipeg Police Service and the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, she said.

“We’ve also increased the amount of funding that we’re giving Aboriginal Health and Wellness (Centre) so that they can have their community wellness workers… working with folks outside in and around and inside.

Smith said the plan is to have mental-health workers and people to provide health care on site.

“That’s our primary goal, is to ensure that people when they come through that door have access to services that they are getting connected,” she said.

“Nobody wants to be addicted to substances. It’s about getting people stabilized and healthy.”

November’s throne speech said that a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg would be operational in January.

The building on Henry Avenue that the province purchased will function as a medical clinic, the minister said.

“We’ve been listening to medical experts on what should it look like and what services should be provided inside. “

The permanent site will include a rapid access to addictions medicine (RAAM) clinic, said Smith. “We want to make sure that people are getting services to treatment in recovery.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said the rollout of the supervised consumption site is a concern.

“We have no idea what this government is doing. The residents of north Logan (Avenue) have no idea and Manitobans have no idea,” he told reporters after question period Thursday.

“Nobody wants to be addicted to substances. It’s about getting people stabilized and healthy.”

“The premier and the minister have no idea what’s actually happening at the site when they themselves said 24 hours ago they just found out they don’t need a permit to operate.”

Khan said that there has been around-the-clock security at the not-yet-operating site.

Area businesses and residents have voiced opposition to the site’s location, raising concerns about safety and an increase in criminal activity.

“I would like to know what the government and Manitoba taxpayers have spent on… private security to sit there all day, all night and watch 366 Henry,” he said.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Wednesdays

A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.

Sign up for Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“Are they going to provide that same service for residents in the area? For other businesses in the area?”

Smith said until the supervised consumption site opens, unsupervised consumption will continue.

“Manitobans told us that (a site) needs to be set up as quick possible,” she said.

“We have businesses that have been telling us that their bathrooms are being used as an unsupervised consumption site. We see this all over the streets that people are using (drugs) unsupervised. We have a responsibility as a government to support people.”

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.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.