Supervised drug consumption site opening on hold indefinitely: Kinew

The long-promised drug consumption site expected to open in the coming weeks has been delayed indefinitely, Premier Wab Kinew said Monday.

“I can’t really give you a timeline,” Kinew said at an unrelated event, when asked for an opening date.

“I want this to be done right. I don’t want it to be done quickly.”

On March 5, Housing Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said the province’s first supervised consumption site was just weeks away from opening in a mobile clinic parked at the west Exchange District site — a Henry Avenue warehouse — the provincial government purchased for a permanent facility.

Kinew said his government wants the facility to be a health services provider, and is asking the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which has been chosen to run it, how it’s going to fulfil its mandate.

“We owe it to the people of Manitoba to make sure that every single consideration” around health care, law enforcement and community safety are addressed with a co-ordinated response, he said.

He credited Smith for doing “an amazing job” in creating a comprehensive plan but said there are still some serious issues to be addressed before opening the doors.

He said the government will work with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre to ensure it meets its targets.

“This is an iterative process,” he said. “So we will be hearing from them, I think, in the next few days about their initial response. If we have concerns at that point, of course we’ll be very direct…. ‘Here’s goals we want to see from you.’”

Becoming aware in recent weeks that the province didn’t need federal approval to legally operate the site based on an urgent public health need led to the province setting its own priorities, Kinew said.

“This might take more weeks, more months in order for us to do this. But I think it’s necessary because it will lead to better outcomes for the person potentially using the supervised consumption site in the future,” he said.

Area residents and businesses have raised concerns about a potential increase in crime and a drop in property values when the site opens.

“We also have a responsibility not just to think about the person who’s addicted, we have a responsibility to think about the entire society,” the premier said.

“We have to think about what are the safety impacts on the community.”

The public wants to see harm-reduction efforts such as a supervised consumption site succeed, but that support could disappear, “If this thing is done sloppily or it’s done poorly and it reverses that open mindedness,” he said.

The Progressive Conservatives said the Kinew government should scrap its plan for a facility, which the NDP ran on in the last election.

“This is not what the community wants,” Tory Leader Obby Khan said after question period.

“People have questions on safety, on funding, on how it’s going to roll out and we’re not getting any answers. This government loves to make big announcements and does not deliver on the work that they need to do.”

He said there is still a long list of unanswered questions.

“I’ve asked in the chamber who will be allowed into the centre? Youth? Underage? First-time users? Pregnant women?” Khan said. “Will parents be notified? Will they have access to (knowing) their children are there? This government’s not answering anything.”

Kinew said he’s still committed to the supervised consumption site opening, and any “blame” for it being delayed should be directed at him.

— With files from Chris Kitching

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca