Disraeli Freeway building pegged as home for Manitoba's 1st supervised consumption site
Darren Bernhardt | CBC News | Posted: December 4, 2024 4:35 PM | Last Updated: December 5
Application made to Health Canada on Nov. 21 by Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre
The planned location of a long-promised supervised drug consumption site for Winnipeg has been identified as a vacant space on Disraeli Freeway at the edge of south Point Douglas.
An application on Health Canada's website shows the proposed location to be 200 Disraeli Fwy., just north of the corner of Disraeli and Henry Avenue. It's a shared building with N'Dinawemak — Our Relatives' Place, a winter warm-up shelter at 190 Disraeli.
The facility would be operated by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which is headquartered a block away in the Neeginan Centre, the former Canadian Pacific Railway Station on Higgins Avenue.
Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara confirmed the site during a news conference on Wednesday, saying it was chosen because "that's a location that has a lot of community-based resources already.
"That particular area in core Winnipeg … has a number of agencies that deliver primary care, agencies that are Indigenous-led — a lot of services right there that are providing community-level, grassroots-level care every single day at all hours of the day for folks who need it," Asagwara said.
"It's right in a part of the city where we know that there are some challenges around homelessness, severe and persistent substance use. We know that there's community that exists there that really benefits from those services. You're actually establishing a place that's meeting people where they're at."
Any organization wanting to operate a supervised consumption site for medical purposes in Canada must obtain an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The application must meet certain requirements, including community consultations and providing a report on the consultations.
Asked if there has been any pushback in the neighbourhood, Asagwara said in fact, "folks in the community are really open to this."
"I think people are actually really excited that there's action finally being taken to make sure that those who are struggling with addictions and struggling maybe with acute health issues, that can't get their needs met elsewhere, are finally going to have their needs met in one location that's going to have dedicated teams and dedicated resources right there for them."
But Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives oppose the creation of a consumption site in the province.
"Safety is going to be a big issue ... we have schools, we have daycares in close proximity to the location," Carrie Hiebert, the Opposition critic for housing, addictions and homelessness told reporters at a scrum Wednesday.
"Treatment and recovery should be our first priority and I don't see that happening."
Bernadette Smith, the NDP minister for housing, addictions and homelessness, told reporters the facility will operate as an injection site, offering primary care and addictions treatment, but stressed it won't start operating until the province has ensured the area surrounding it is "safe and secure," including a "big police presence" and patrols by the Downtown Community Safety Partnership in the area.
The site will also be fenced off, she said.
Premier Wab Kinew and Monica Cy, director of operations at the wellness centre, have both said in the past that the consumption site would not be near a school or a daycare.
The proposed site for the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre's facility is directly across Disraeli from Argyle Alternative High School, which is for students in grades 10-12, up to the age of 21.
Matt Henderson, superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, which Argyle school is part of, said the school will be doing consultations with families later in the month to seek guidance and listen to concerns that can then be forwarded to the province.
"If the [consumption] site can support folks in the community, we see benefits around mediating some of the safety concerns," he said.
'Not thought out': MMF
The exemption application was filed on Nov. 21 and is listed as being in the screening stage.
The provincial government announced in June that Manitoba's first supervised consumption site would open in 2025 in Winnipeg, and be the first Indigenous-led one in Canada, but exactly where and when had yet to be determined.
Asagwara didn't have a date when the new site is expected to open, but said the government and its partners are working "to stand this up as quickly as possible" and in the right way.
"This is something that we look forward to sharing more information on right away for folks."
David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Métis Federation, whose office is located across Henry Avenue from the proposed site, is not happy about it.
"In my view … it's definitely not thought out," he said, calling it another Band-Aid rather than the entire medical kit.
"Putting a roof over somebody's head doesn't solve the problem," Chartrand said, saying people need full wraparound supports, not another temporary fix.
"Where are these services … [Asagwara is] talking about? Why are people still living in tents and walking all over the place, lost in space?" he said. "All we see is a greater growth happening."
He also wonders what happened to the Houston model, after a Manitoba delegation went to the Texas city earlier this year to examine its co-ordinated approach to homelessness.
"What has happened in Winnipeg, everybody's just pushed the homeless into this particular location, and when you do that, you just really increase your inability to take on the challenge," Chartrand said.
"There's no plan. There's no strategy."