Province sends auditors to Lethbridge supervised consumption site, citing anonymous tip

On the same day the Alberta government released the findings of its review of supervised consumption sites in the province, Jason Luan, associate minister of mental health and addictions, announced an audit of Lethbridge's site.

"We have heard disturbing allegations of financial irregularities of ARCHES," Luan said during a press conference held Thursday. "Yesterday, we sent a team of auditors into the site to collect documentation for analysis. I will have more to say about this in the coming weeks."

The government received an anonymous tip, Luan said, which led to auditors being sent to the site on Wednesday. 

"I cannot [go into] detail, but I can tell you it's in the category of financial irregularity," he said. "Any agency or operators who receive government grants, they have to comply with financial audit standard. Every dime of taxpayers' money needs to be accounted for.

"So when we received this complaint, we acted right away."

ARCHES, a non-profit agency, oversees the safe consumption site in Lethbridge, one of the busiest in North America. The site received more than 260,000 visits and responded to more than 2,500 medical emergencies between Feb. 28, 2018 and July 30, 2019.

Stacey Bourque, the executive director of ARCHES, said the organization was "fully cooperative" with Wednesday's audit.

"We're happy to work with the government through this process and ensure they get the information they need to make decisions moving forward," Bourque said. "We do believe we are compliant with our contracts and are vigilant in ensuring that we're delivering the services that our agreements outline that we should be."

• 'A system of chaos': Supervised Consumption Services Review Committee releases findings

Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman said ARCHES deserved an opportunity to respond to the data released Thursday.

"We have been meeting with ARCHES on a monthly basis … any information of concern is something that ARCHES will respond to," he said. "I hope we'll work with the provincial leaders. The ministers, hopefully, will work with the community and with ourselves on city council to look at what solutions are best.

"But there hasn't been any ongoing dialogue with the panel."