City seals off Charlottetown tunnel used for shelter, drug injection

The chair of Charlottetown's protective services committee says the city has sealed off the entrance to a tunnel that goes under Water Street because the tunnel was being used as a place to inject drugs and posed a risk to the public.

That move has pushed forward an ongoing dialogue around the need for supervised injection sites on P.E.I.

Greg Rivard said the city has known about how the tunnel was being used for at least the last two years, and has tried unsuccessfully in the past to board it up.

He said items in the tunnel were cleared out Thursday, including mattresses, clothing, and other personal belongings, which he said showed the site was being used to inject drugs.

Rivard said the site was used "by people seeking shelter. Kind of a hangout place, and a place unfortunately to illegally inject."

The presence of the mattresses, he said, "suggests it was used for people to sleep."

Rivard said the city covered off the entrance to the tunnel because its use posed a risk to health and safety, and "some of the actions taking place in there were illegal. It was something the city couldn't sanction."

But when asked what happened to the people who were using the location, Rivard said "we're not sure. We have to assume they're going to find another location. We're hoping that it's, I guess, a safe location."

Angele DesRoches, program co-ordinator with PEERS Alliance, said the fact people were using the tunnel as a shelter and as a place to consume drugs "highlights that members of our Island community are living with complex mental health issues and substance-use disorders — and these folks are really struggling to get their needs met."

She said shutting the site down does nothing to address the factors causing people to use it in the first place, and called for more investment in affordable housing and in harm reduction services "like safer consumption sites."

Safe injection sites 'not off the table': minister

The rising number of opioid-related overdoses — P.E.I. reported 12 between April and September of this year — has fuelled calls for supervised injection sites in the province, an issue raised during the recent fall sitting of the legislature.

"Safe injection sites is definitely not off the table, it's something that we'll certainly consider," Health Minister James Aylward said, in response to questions from the Liberal opposition. 

"But at this present time, [the Chief Public Health Office] and Health PEI, their main focus is on protecting Islanders from COVID-19."

City willing to 'open up conversation'

Rivard said he spoke Monday with Charlottetown Police Services about the issue.

"There certainly is a willingness to meet with the stakeholders and open up the conversation … about finding safe sites or creating a safe site," said Rivard.

"We have to look at other jurisdictions and what they're doing, and hopefully come up with a solution soon."

Meanwhile, PEERS Alliance is preparing to launch a pilot program offering an overdose prevention hotline, which drug users will be able to call to reach a peer they can trust to dispatch first responders in the event of an overdose.

But DesRoches said even that service will still leave the province far behind in terms of its ability "to better assist those who are most impacted by homelessness, mental illness, and the overdose crisis."

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