The provincial government won’t open a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg this year, Premier Wab Kinew told reporters Tuesday.
Instead, the province has allocated $2 million in the 2024 budget for consultations with community groups about where to put the site, expected to be downtown, in the general area of north Main Street.
Kinew made the comment before the finance minister delivered the budget speech. An operational plan is expected next year.
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Premier Wab Kinew said establishing a supervised consumption site is a “big step” and the province needs to take time to get it right.
The establishment of such a site, where people can use their own substances under the supervision of those trained to revive them if they overdose, would be Manitoba’s first.
The former Progressive Conservative government resisted calls from harm-reduction advocates and drug users who said such sites save lives. Deaths due to toxic drug overdoses in Manitoba have soared in recent years, with more than one person dying a day.
Using illicit substances “shouldn’t be a death sentence,” Kinew said. He characterized the sites as “a path toward” primary care, additions medicine and a better life.
The budget states the eventual site will provide sterile consumption equipment and offer supervision “to reduce infection, save lives and connect Manitobans with health care, mental health supports and wraparound services.”
Kinew said establishing a supervised consumption site is a “big step” and the province needs to take time to get it right.
“How do you ensure that the impacts on public safety and on the immediate neighbourhood are going to be addressed?” he said, noting the province has consulted with other premiers and experts.
All provinces other than Atlantic Canada have supervised consumption sites.
The government is considering a proposal for an Indigenous-led consortium regarding the creation of a site, Kinew said.
He also spoke about the need to crack down on traffickers who provide the kind of illicit substances people would use at the sites.
Asked why the province isn’t looking at a safer supply drugs program – a step British Columbia has taken by providing pharmaceutical-grade substances to some people with addictions — Kinew said the province is taking things one step at a time and will follow data and results once the supervised site is open.
Tuesday’s budget includes $2.4 million for drug testing, treatment and recovery programs.
Of this, $435,000 will go toward drug testing in Winnipeg and northern Manitoba, $1 million will go toward treatment supports — including withdrawal management and supportive recovery housing programs — and $500,000 will go toward funding for 24/7 sobering centres in Brandon and Thompson.
katrina.clarke@freepress.mb.ca
Katrina Clarke
Investigative reporter
Katrina Clarke is an investigative reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press.