Winnipeg families deserve real solutions for drug crisis

The recent community gathering regarding Winnipeg’s proposed safe consumption site sparked strong emotions and important conversations.

Many residents expressed concerns about neighbourhood safety, public disorder and what this site could mean for families and businesses in the surrounding community.

Those concerns matter and they deserve to be acknowledged respectfully.

It is also important to recognize that the people who attended the community gathering and voiced concerns are not blind to the drug poisoning crisis affecting Winnipeg and communities across Manitoba.

Many have witnessed its impacts first-hand, in their neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools, families and communities. Many are deeply worried about losing more people, seeing more trauma in public spaces and watching systems continue to fail those who need support the most.

The concerns being raised are not always rooted in a lack of compassion.

In many cases, they are rooted in fear that Winnipeg could repeat mistakes seen in other cities across Canada where communities felt unsafe, unsupported or excluded from the process.

People are looking at headlines, social media and stories from other jurisdictions and asking difficult but reasonable questions: What worked? What failed? What protections were missing? How do we avoid creating unintended harm while still responding to a public health emergency?

Those questions should not be dismissed. They should be welcomed.

Because the people showing up to these conversations are not the enemy of progress, they are people who want to be part of a real solution. They want a response that protects communities while also protecting human life. They want approaches rooted in accountability, evidence, safety and compassion.

And they want governments and service providers to learn from what has and has not worked elsewhere.

Winnipeg has an opportunity to do exactly that.

Not by copying models without reflection, but by building a made-in-Manitoba response that includes strong community involvement, cultural supports, public safety planning, treatment pathways, housing connections,and measurable accountability alongside harm reduction services.

A real solution cannot focus only on emergency response after lives are already lost.

It must also focus on prevention, healing, community well-being and restoring trust that people are not being abandoned, whether they are families worried about their neighbourhoods or individuals struggling with problematic substance use.

But alongside those concerns is another truth we cannot ignore, people in Winnipeg are dying at alarming rates from a poisoned and unpredictable drug supply.

As the CEO of the Winnipeg Indigenous Executive Circle, I believe this conversation requires more honesty, more compassion and more courage than we have shown in the past.

This is not simply an “addiction issue.”

This is a public health crisis.

Across Manitoba, and particularly in Winnipeg, people who use substances are increasingly exposed to toxic and contaminated drugs.

The reality is that many individuals are not dying because they use substances, they are dying because the substances available on the street are poisoned, unpredictable and increasingly dangerous.

Winnipeg has become one of the places hardest hit by the toxic drug crisis. Frontline workers, families and communities are seeing the devastating impacts every day.

What is happening now is not working.

People are already using substances in places we all utilize and are aware of across the city and in our communities. People are overdosing and dying alone. Families are grieving in silence. Emergency systems are overwhelmed. Communities are witnessing trauma daily without enough co-ordinated support or response.

A safe consumption site does not create substance use.

What it creates is the opportunity to keep people alive.

It creates a space where individuals can access health care, cultural support, outreach workers, housing navigation, mental health services, detox referrals, treatment pathways and human connection without fear of judgment or death.

If Winnipeg is coined “ground zero” why not get it right?

Harm reduction is often misunderstood as “giving up” on people.

In reality, harm reduction is about reducing immediate risk while building pathways toward wellness, stability and healing. It recognizes that healing is not always linear and that people deserve dignity and care regardless of where they are in their journey.

No one accesses treatment, recovery or healing if they do not survive first.

There are also people asking an important question: if some Canadian cities are reconsidering safe consumption sites, why should Winnipeg move forward?

Because Winnipeg’s situation demands action.

We cannot compare our city without acknowledging the scale of the toxic drug crisis here and the lack of adequate supports that currently exist.

Manitoba continues to face devastating overdose and toxic drug impacts, particularly among vulnerable populations. Ignoring the issue or relying solely on enforcement has not reduced deaths, trauma or public substance use.

At the same time, communities deserve accountability and safety.

Supporting harm reduction should not mean dismissing neighbourhood concerns. Residents deserve meaningful consultation, strong operational plans, security measures, community partnerships and ongoing evaluation to ensure these services work for everyone involved.

This conversation should not become “community members versus people who use substances.”

Many people who use substances are community members. They are parents, youth, relatives, co-workers, neighbours and loved ones. They are human beings deserving of dignity and the opportunity to survive.

Younger generations are increasingly asking us to move beyond outdated narratives rooted in shame and punishment.

They are calling for solutions grounded in evidence, humanity, public health and social responsibility.

They understand that substance use cannot be separated from housing instability, mental health, poverty, trauma, disconnection and systemic inequities.

And they are right.

Winnipeg has an opportunity to respond differently, not by pretending the crisis does not exist, but by meeting it with compassion, accountability and evidence-based care.

Because every life lost to toxic drugs is absolutely a preventable loss.

And every single person deserves the chance to make it home alive.

Dodie Jordan is CEO of the Winnipeg Indigenous Executives Circle.