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Fate of supervised injection site in limbo as province says it won't appeal Charlottetown decision

The Prince Edward Island government says it will not appeal the City of Charlottetown's decision to reject its latest proposed location for a supervised injection site, leaving the future of safer drug use on the Island in limbo.

Email from government commits to other 'evidence-based harm reduction strategies'

Carolyn Ryan · CBC News ·
A dish of sterile needles, alcohol swabs, and drug test strips.
A dish of sterile needles, alcohol swabs, and drug test strips at one of B.C.'s 33 official overdose prevention and supervised consumption sites, where drug users can access clean supplies and receive quick care if they experience an overdose. P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador are the only provinces without such a site. (Michael McArthur/CBC)

The Prince Edward Island government says it will not appeal the City of Charlottetown's decision to reject its latest proposed location for a supervised injection site where people with addictions can use their drugs more safely. 

In late September, Charlottetown councillors voted against granting the province a temporary variance to establish an overdose prevention site at 15 Park St. for one year.

The site would have been located near the Park Street overnight emergency shelter, and would have consisted of two modular units.

On Thursday, the province sent an email to CBC News confirming it has not submitted an appeal to the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission in a bid to overturn the council ruling. 

It made no mention of any intention to seek another site for a supervised consumption site, either in the short term or the longer term.

A man being shoved by another man, with lots of people surrounding him.
At a July public meeting about the Park Street shelter, where the possibility of a supervised consumption site was mentioned, Housing Minister Rob Lantz was shoved by an angry local resident. (Tony Davis/CBC)

"By working together as provincial and municipal governments, we can address challenges like homelessness and addictions and mental health, and create healthy and safe communities," the email said.

"The province will continue to work with the Community Harm Reduction Steering Committee (which includes city council members, police and those with lived experience). P.E.I. will continue to explore all the options to implement evidence-based harm reduction strategies that support community wellness and reduce negative impacts on people who use substances."

The email said examples of those strategies include: 

  • promotion of a national drug overdose prevention hotline called NORS as well as the Brave app for people who use drugs while alone, 
  • clean needle exchange, 
  • harm reduction dispensing machines, and
  • take-home naloxone kit distribution and distribution of drug testing strips.
A close up shot of someone holding a nasal spray for opioid overdoses.
In the absence of a supervised drug use site, the P.E.I. government says it will continue to promote 'evidence-based harm reduction strategies' including the distribution of naloxone kits. (Jean Delisle/CBC/Radio-Canada)

"We certainly did encourage the province to appeal the decision," Angele DesRoches of the harm reduction agency PEERS Alliance said Friday.

"I think it's important that the Department of Health is able to introduce public health services as they are needed, and those decisions shouldn't be able to be held hostage by any other actor."

She added: "The biggest concern is overdose deaths. Obviously, dead people cannot recover, and so saving lives is the primary function of an overdose prevention site."

A woman sits at a table holding a small narrow strip of paper. There are two green packages holding drug test kits in front of her.
Angele DesRoches, program director with the harm reduction group PEERS Alliance, has said people won't stop using drugs because there's no supervised site on the Island. (CBC)

2nd proposed site this year

The Park Street location was the second site the province had picked to host a supervised injection site in less than a year. 

The first site was 33 Belmont Street, across from the city's food bank, with PEERS Alliance contracted to run the consumption site. 

View of 33 Belmont Street.
This structure at 33 Belmont St. in Charlottetown was named in early 2023 as the site of P.E.I.'s first overdose prevention site. No such operation was ever launched, after the site became a provincial election issue. (Shane Hennessey/CBC)

Harm reduction advocates welcomed news that the long-promised site had a home, but neighbours organized a petition against it, and Progressive Conservative Leader Dennis King eventually pledged to find a new site if his party was re-elected in the April 3rd provincial election. 

It was re-elected, and Park Street was soon under consideration.

But people living in the vicinity of that site also objected, and Charlottetown council voted seven-three not to grant the variance on Sept. 25. 

P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador are the only Canadian provinces without a safe injection site.

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