Minister won’t divulge location chosen for supervised drug site in Winnipeg

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/11/2024 (289 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government knows which location has been chosen for a supervised drug consumption site, but it won’t say where.

“We’re looking forward to sharing that location once we’ve completed all our due diligence and consultations,” Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith said Friday.

Smith promised the provincial government will follow rules set out by the federal government, involving consultations with the local community about the controversial site.

“Consultations aren’t done,” she said Friday. “It’s a process and we are following the process that is outlined by the federal government.”

The Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which is leading the project, sent an email to the Point Douglas Residents Committee on Oct. 26 to advise the site would be located “within the downtown Point Douglas area.”

The committee shared the letter on social media and held a community meeting Nov. 14.

The group worries residents will be silenced because federal rules for consultation only apply to “stakeholders” within 500 metres of any proposed supervised consumption site.

“Those who live and work within the affected area are given no voice whatsoever,” the letter reads.

“Our concern is that if residents are not considered key stakeholders under the current federal guidelines, it becomes difficult or impossible to gauge the range of our residents’ reactions to the potentially serious impacts of these sites on the community at large.”

The letter asks that the consultation process include all Point Douglas residents and that the outcome of that process be made public.

Tanya Blatz, a resident who speaks for the committee, said a range of opinions were gathered at the meeting.

“It sounds like we have a meeting pending, in the works, so we are working toward meeting with the federal government, but we’d like to have an open door meeting where it’s not just these few stakeholders that are representing the whole community,” she said.

Heath Canada requires any application for a supervised consumption site to include a community consultation report, which must contain “a description of measures to address concerns that were raised during the community consultation.”

Consultation can be gathered at open houses, online surveys and door-to-door canvassing, Health Canada’s website says.

Longtime Point Douglas advocate Sel Burrows said he had spoken with the residents committee and recommended that they set out conditions that would ensure the community felt safe having the centre in their area.

“Anywhere they put it, it’s going to be controversial,” he said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca