Feds back supervised consumption sites day after Manitoba introduces bill on licensing them

The federal minister of mental heath and addictions says she is concerned some may misunderstand the role harm reduction plays in reducing overdose deaths after the Manitoba government said it would introduce legislation that would require licensing for supervised drug consumption sites.

Carolyn Bennett's remarks come a day after Janice Morley-Lecomte, Manitoba's minister for mental health and community wellness, introduced a bill in the legislature that, if passed into law, would require supervised consumption sites, addiction centres with beds and withdrawal-management services to apply for a provincial licence.

Bennett said the large number of overdoses that have been reversed at such sites across the country shows the sites are a form of harm reduction backed by evidence and not rooted in ideology.

"We want to make sure that nothing is increasing the barriers to people getting harm reduction," she said at an announcement in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

The federal government believes supervised consumption sites are essential elements to addressing overdose deaths and addictions issues, Bennett said.

Governments need to be open to all forms of harm reduction that people providing services and drug users have been calling for, including access to safe supply and safe consumption, she said.

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government has long opposed supervised consumption sites, saying people facing addiction need to be guided toward treatment and recovery services.

Manitoba has been the only province west of the Maritimes without one.

The province shifted its stance Tuesday when it introduced a bill in the legislature that would require supervised consumption sites, addiction centres with beds and withdrawal-management services to apply for provincial licences.

The licence would spell out what kind of services can be offered, set standards of care and require minimum levels of medical supervision, among other things. The province would have inspectors to enforce the law, and providers that break the rules could face fines of up to $50,000 per day.

Bennett said it was too soon to comment on the proposed legislation, but she would be speaking with the province about the bill.

It's not clear whether the bill will be passed into law before the Oct. 3 election. The NDP Opposition have the opportunity to hold up its passage.

'Sideswiped': Sunshine House ED

The head of Winnipeg's only mobile overdose prevention site said the bill threatens current programs in the province.

"We felt really sideswiped by the introduction of this bill because the province has never done any consultation with us," Levi Foy, executive director of Sunshine House, told CBC.

Sunshine House's mobile overdose prevention site has had about 4,600 visits since opening officially last November, and Foy said the bill adds another hoop in the organization's mission to offer lifesaving services.

"It was really disheartening and really discouraging because sure, on the surface it might look like they're open to this idea, but really they're not," they said.

"This is really a way to delay and to put in unnecessary kinds of barriers to the creation of these types of services."

Terms in the bill such as "peace officer," "warrant" and "inspectors" have punitive connotations and open the door to over-policing of the site, they said.

"All of this stuff is really volatile language and it's not language that should be in a bill that is about community health and wellness."

The provincial bill also doesn't outline what a new regulatory body overseeing addictions services would do, said Foy, and Sunshine House doesn't need more regulations since they're already following federal rules, which includes inspections.

"These types of oversights should be more meaningful, more intentional and well thought out and done with community consultation, which this bill was not done with."

The 4,600 visits to the mobile site include 885 supervised ingestions of drugs and 82 drug checks for fentanyl and benzodiazepines. Foy said the number of visits to the site so far show a real need for Sunshine House's services, and they expect it to increase going forward.

"We're shocked by that [number], and it's only going to get busier as the weather gets nicer and people become more familiar with the services," they said.

"It's going to be a wild spring."

Bennett was in Winnipeg to announce $13 million for harm reduction and treatment services projects across the Prairies, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

Among those was the West Broadway Development Corporation, which is to receive roughly $135,000 for two part-time harm reduction workers.

Kelly Frazer, executive director of the organization, welcomed the funding.

"Harm reduction supports have been under-resourced and are badly overstretched," she said.

The workers are to team up with partner organizations in the area to expand street outreach and the ability to respond to crisis situations.