Addictions minister tasked with establishing supervised consumption site in downtown Winnipeg
Mandate letter calls on minister to save lives, connect Manitobans with health and social supports
Manitoba's new NDP government has confirmed in writing it wants to establish a supervised consumption site in downtown Winnipeg.
In a ministerial mandate letter dated Oct.19 and released publicly Tuesday, Premier Wab Kinew calls on his addictions minister, Bernadette Smith, to work with other cabinet ministers to deliver on what Kinew describes as one of the government's key priorities.
"I am super pumped," said Arlene Last-Kolb, with Moms Stop the Harm. "They are following through with what they said. This is so different than what I'm used to."
While harm reduction groups have been providing spaces to help prevent overdoses, Manitoba has been the only province west of the Maritimes without a supervised consumption site.
Last-Kolb, whose son Jessie died of a fentanyl overdose in 2014, said people should have access to a safe supply of drugs.
"I would love to see that safe consumption site become permanent in a hospital setting, along with all harm reduction, along with treatment," Last-Kolb said.
No details about how the government plans to establish the site or where it will be located were part of the letter.
The NDP has previously indicated its support to open one.
Smith said earlier this month she couldn't provide any timeline.
The minister said Manitoba saw 400 drug-related deaths in 2022 and she doesn't want to see those numbers rise.
According to data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Manitoba saw 418 suspected drug-related deaths last year. Numbers available for this year show 216 people died of a suspected drug-related death from January to June 2023, with 44 suspected deaths recorded in May alone.
Smith mentioned Sunshine House, as well as the homeless outreach agency Main Street Project, as groups the new Manitoba government planned to work with on a supervised consumption site.
Sunshine House runs a mobile overdose prevention site five days a week out of a recreational vehicle parked at the corner of Main Street and Logan Avenue.
It offers supports that include administering naloxone in the event of an overdose and referrals to emergency, health and social services.
The site also demonstrates how to administer fentanyl tests, and provides information gathered from community members on the toxic drug supply but it's not a supervised consumption site.
"It's peer-led and peer-run and it's out of an RV," said Davey Cole, the co-ordinator of the program. "We don't have the resources that an official supervised consumption site would have. That's why we're an overdose prevention site."
Cole said a lot of the groundwork has been laid to establish a supervised consumption site and it's encouraging to see it mentioned in an official government letter.
"I'm excited to see this get going as soon possible," Cole said. "Almost every day at the site, people ask when we'll go 24 hours or when we'll have a building or when this will happen.
"Every day we say people are getting ready."
Cole said getting a supervised consumption site up and running will require funding and experts will need to be consulted on how to run one efficiently with care and compassion.
"Let's get it going," Cole said.
In the year since the mobile site started running, there have been 23 overdoses, resulting in three hospitalizations.
No one using the site has died, Cole said.
"There is proven data that this saves lives," they said. "I think that that should be enough for people to support it."
Last-Kolb knows it won't happen overnight. She'd like to see a site operated in a dignified way that treats people well and is welcoming to everyone.
"I'm grateful because things are going to be different," Last-Kolb said. "It's just going to take a little time."
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