City explores options for opposing legal challenge to new meth-detention law Compassion, tolerance for drug users ’not synonymous,’ Gillingham says By: Tyler Searle Posted: 5:44 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 19, 2026

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham is considering inserting the city into a legal battle between the province and its former chief psychiatrist, who is challenging the constitutionality of detaining intoxicated people for up to three days.

The mayor held a private meeting of his executive policy committee Tuesday, calling upon the City of Winnipeg’s lawyers to provide a briefing on an ongoing legal case involving Bill 48, the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act.

Dr. Jim Simm filed a notice of application in the Court of King’s Bench last month, launching a constitutional challenge against the law, which he believes is an ineffective way to address Winnipeg’s burgeoning drug crisis.

The challenge argues the law could violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Only the attorneys general of Manitoba and Canada are named in the filing, but Gillingham said he is considering options for the city to get involved in defence of the bill.

“We, as a city, have interest in the challenge of Bill 48.”

“We, as a city, have interest in the challenge of Bill 48. There is an impact on our city staff, there is an impact on the social order, as well, and ultimately on the people struggling,” Gillingham said.

“I think it’s important to realize that compassion and tolerance are not synonymous. We can be compassionate by sometimes not tolerating people struggling over and over again.”

The mayor would not reveal what advice the city’s lawyers provided during the in-camera session, but said one option could involve the city applying for intervener status in the proceedings.

An intervener is an individual or organization not included as a party to a legal filing, but has an interest in the proceedings. If the city were granted standing as an intervener, its lawyer could provide evidence, conduct cross-examination and make written or oral submissions.

The mayor stressed that city council has not made any decision on what its next step will be.

While fielding questions from reporters Tuesday, Gillingham reiterated his support for Bill 48.

The province passed the legislation in November. It replaced 1987’s Intoxicated Persons Detention Act, which was based on alcohol use and permitted 24-hour holds. Under the new law, intoxicated people can be detained and held involuntarily at 190 Disraeli Fwy. for up to 72 hours.

Premier Wab Kinew, who spearheaded the creation of the so-called protective care centre, has described the 20-bed facility as a “drunk tank for people that are high on drugs.”

The facility features individual, cinder-block units measuring three metres by three metres. Each one is equipped with a bed, toilet, sink, video surveillance, an intercom and a door with a small window and outside lock.

The centre began accepting people intoxicated by drugs in March. A government spokesperson said 2,845 people had been detained at the facility as of April 20, the latest data available.

The average length of time people had been held at the facility as of that date was five hours, and the longest amount of time was about 21 hours.

Data reporting for the facility will occur quarterly, and the province expects to release updated data in the coming weeks, the spokesperson said.

“We are not serving our fellow citizens by letting them continue in these struggles.”

Gillingham said city paramedics have shared anecdotes with him in which they have responded to multiple overdose calls involving the same patient during a single shift. Meanwhile, firefighters have told the mayor they are concerned the high number of overdose calls is tying up crews and equipment, limiting their ability to respond to fire calls.

The Winnipeg Police Service and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service have both endorsed the implementation of Bill 48.

“We need to act and intervene, and I think the premier is on the right track,” Gillingham said.

“We are not serving our fellow citizens by letting them continue in these struggles without intervening and providing them options toward recovery.”

“There are better options that could be arranged than a three-day, involuntary hospitalization in a solitary confinement cell.”

Neither the provincial nor federal governments have responded to Simm’s legal challenge, court records show.

The first hearing on the matter was scheduled to take place June 10, but Simm said the lawyer he hired to represent him in the case is taking on a new position, so he must now apply for a postponement while he searches for new counsel.

“I still stand by my opinion there are better options that could be arranged than a three-day, involuntary hospitalization in a solitary confinement cell,” he said.

“I medically think it is not a good idea and it is up for a Charter challenge.”

Representatives from Sunshine House, the West End Women’s Resource Centre and Resource Assistance for Youth have previously spoken out against Bill 48, arguing it could further stigmatize and criminalize substance use.

Al Wiebe, a longtime homelessness advocate who spent more than two years living on Winnipeg’s streets, criticized the province’s 72-hour detox centre model on Monday.

He said the city’s worsening drug-toxicity crisis has pushed conditions for people with addictions to levels he has never seen before.

“People are desperate after they get out (of detention), and are more desperate to find drugs than when they went in,” he said. “People are going to be more desperate to get it…. And I think that might be one of the problems.”

— With files from Joyanne Pursaga and Scott Billeck

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca