Temporary supervised drug consumption site will begin operations in June, addictions minister says

After announcing — and then delaying — the opening of the temporary version of Manitoba’s first supervised consumption site in March, the long-promised facility will now open next month, the province’s addictions minister said Thursday.

The temporary facility, which will be run out of a mobile clinic parked at the warehouse at 366 Henry Ave., purchased by the province to use as a permanent site, is being staffed now in preparation for its opening in June, Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said.

“Some staff have been hired, the director has been hired, they’re interviewing some peer mentors right now and clinical staff, and then once they’re hired and trained up, that’s when the site will open,” she told reporters at a news conference.

“The site’s already been fitted for what’s going to be there, and we’re super eager to get this open, because we know that people need the supports — we see people using (drugs) outside, we want to get them inside, connected to supports and services.”

On March 5, Smith said the province was waiting for approval from Health Canada to open the permanent site, but had been told a temporary site could operate in the meantime, based on “urgent public need.”

At that time, she suggested the temporary site could be open in a number of weeks.

“The site’s already been fitted for what’s going to be there, and we’re super eager to get this open, because we know that people need the supports…”

Less than two weeks later, Premier Wab Kinew said it would be delayed indefinitely, and could not provide a timeline because he wanted “this to be done right.”

Tory addictions critic Jeff Bereza said he wanted to know if the approximately 200 people working and living near the proposed drug site who met at a town hall to discuss its opening earlier this month were informed of the new timeline.

He said opening dates have been proposed and discarded without key questions addressed about staffing and safety.

The government makes big announcements without accompanying plans, he said.

The permanent site would offer a legal, supervised place for people to inject drugs safely in an effort to reduce overdoses. It will operate as a medical clinic led by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, will include a rapid access to addictions medicine clinic, and is now expected to open next winter.

The NDP campaigned, in part, on opening a supervised site before the 2023 election.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said there has been a significant amount of communication involving the city, its police force and the province throughout the facility’s planning stages.

“There needs to be good co-ordination,” he said at an unrelated news conference. “I know there’s been a lot of good dialogue with our departments, as well, to make sure that they are ready to handle any load that would come from (the facility).”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca