Regina council to debate motion for city-wide addictions harm reduction strategy

Regina city council will look at a motion next week that could have a major impact on how the city deals with overdoses and addictions for years to come. 

The motion was put forward at the September city council meeting. It is co-signed by Andrew Stevens, Lori Bresciani, Bob Hawkins and Jason Mancinelli.

The motion essentially calls for a city-wide harm reduction strategy to address rising overdose numbers. The motion says this could include things like "needle drop-off locations, safe consumption sites, safe drug supplies, wellness centres [and] traditional ceremonial spaces," among other things.

Andrew Stevens was the primary author of the motion. He said it's about bringing people together to talk about solutions, rather than prescribing the solutions himself.

"I didn't want to overshadow the work being done in the community, but in those conversations it became clear that the city has a role to play," Stevens said. 

"We need to talk about this. It's getting out of control. It's at the heart of many problems in our community. It's not an inner-city problem, it's happening in the suburbs and wealthy areas of Regina. We need to get a handle on this and we can't leave to the Regina Police Service and [Regina] fire to handle it by themselves."

Stevens said that there is great work already being done in Regina, but that there are problems with communication between agencies. The motion's main goal is to bring together the disparate network of resources and community organizations to figure out the main problems and how to solve them together, Stevens said. 

Margaret Kisikaw Piyesis, CEO of All Nations Hope Network, said a safe consumption site in the city is long overdue. She was consulted by the city about the motion. 

"I believe in Saskatchewan, there needs to be more effort and responsibility put on municipal and provincial governments to make change for people who are actively using so they can live better lives," she said. 

"What's missing is a front-line place where people can walk in to and have access to care, treatment and support regardless of how they present."

Kisikaw Piyesis said front-line organizations like All Nations Hope are vital going forward.

"Non-profit organizations have rose up from the fire to address what the systems and the institutions and other agencies that are funded don't address," she said.

Kisikaw Piyesis said systemic racism plays a big role in when and how people seek treatment. She said she has personally witnessed the health-care system discard Indigenous people who are actively using drugs or alcohol. 

Stevens agreed that Indigenous and other racialized people are disproportionately affected by this crisis. 

Province-wide in 2019, Indigenous people accounted for 56 of 158 overdoses deaths, or 35.4 per cent. As of the 2016 census, Indigenous people in Saskatchewan make up 16.3 per cent of the population.

Both Stevens and Kisikaw Piyesis said it is important to have Indigenous approaches to health and healing built into the new proposed strategy. Stevens said community organizations that are owned, controlled and led by Indigenous people need to be at the centre of the discussion.

Stevens said he worries about jurisdictional arguments down the road. Health is technically a provincial responsibility, but he said the city not only has a role, but is already spending money on it through things like police response. He said he's heard from people in provincial government that the divides and separation aren't working.

"How do I look residents in the face that are asking for some meaningful change and say 'sorry, that's someone else's problem'?"

Stevens is up for re-election in Ward 3 next month.