‘We’re going to work on shutting it down’: Smith says province looking to close Calgary safe injection site at Chumir Centre

The premier says the province is working to shut down Calgary's supervised consumption site, but the mayor wants a long-term plan first.

Premier Danielle Smith said she’s going to try to shut down the safe injection site at the Sheldon Chumir Centre.

The Alberta premier made the comments on her Saturday radio program “Your Province, Your Premier,” where she answered a question about her plans for the controversial site, two days after Mayor Jyoti Gondek criticized the province for dragging its heels on what to do with it.

The Sheldon Chumir Supervised Consumption Site’s future has been debated since former premier Jason Kenney’s government announced in 2022 that it would shutter the site.

At the time, the government said it would replace the drug-use site with two new ones in “more appropriate locations.”

But the site remains open and the province has yet to outline any other closure plans.

Court verdict in Red Deer

Saturday morning, the premier said a recent court verdict in Red Deer slowed the process of dealing with the Calgary location.

“We were waiting for a court decision to come down in Red Deer last week and we got it,” Smith said.

“As you know, we have this conversation with the courts. We do something, they tell us whether or not it’s constitutional or whether it violates rights and so there were some challenges that went forward (in Red Deer).

“There was an individual trying to claim that that (injection site) needed to stay open – and the court rejected the argument.”

Smith said the province has developed a virtual opioid dependency program that 8,000 people have signed up for and in Red Deer, they’ve put a therapeutic living unit in prison so that people can receive treatment while serving time.

She said the province has also established a recovery community with 75 beds and that Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams “is working on creating rapid response teams of paramedics and nurses so we can make sure we have a mobile force that can assist people with naloxone if they overdose.

“That combination of things has allowed us to commit to moving forward on closing the centre in Red Deer,” Smith said, “and I’m prepared to do the same thing in Calgary.”

“It seems to me the (Calgary) mayor’s pretty clear,” she added. “She wants it gone. I think we’ve (also) heard for a long time that residents want it gone.

“We haven’t had as clear an indication from the entire (Calgary city) council,” she added. “If you remember what happened in Red Deer, the entire council said close thing down and we immediately said yes.

“So we’ve been asking for that clear indication from (Calgary) council – they didn’t want to give it. The mayor seems to be supportive, so we’re going to work on shutting it down. I’ve asked Dan to make that his next priority.”

Williams said Thursday he’s not interested in setting up more safe consumption sites. The province has argued for a recovery-oriented response to the drug toxicity crisis and has stood against safe-consumption sites.

“I’m not interested in moving the Sheldon Chumir to another community,” Williams told reporters.

“I would like to see a different path forward, not one that facilitates addiction.”

Provincial responsibility

Gondek and several councillors have argued the issue is beyond Calgary’s jurisdiction as health matters are the province’s responsibility.

In response, Williams has argued the city is responsible for economic growth, public safety and zoning. He said the city seems more interested in positioning for politics ahead of forthcoming municipal elections.

In her letter, Gondek invited the province to set up a working group between the two governments.

Williams has not said whether the province will accept the invitation.

“My position has been consistent since I wrote them in October,” he said.

‘I’m just seeing a lot of broken promises’

Saturday afternoon, Gondek responded to Smith’s radio comments, saying the city has no jurisdiction over safe injection sites.

“I don’t give direction to the premier. I think that’s pretty clear,” Gondek said.

“The city council does not give direction to the provincial government,” she added. “I think everybody knows that by now – so asking us to make a decision is something that’s a non-starter.

“We have no jurisdiction over mental health and addiction so I’m not quite sure what it is the premier is seeking,” she said. “I can tell you however that she herself made a very public commitment in the Globe and Mail back in November, saying she wanted to engage with Calgarians to understand the best next steps."

“Her government is also the one that decided back in 2020 too that they wanted to offer a more comprehensive program and that we would have replacement sites. Those were their ideas,” Gondek said, continuing.

“I’m still waiting to hear what those are – and time is ticking," she said. “We have unsafe conditions for Calgarians, we need to be interested in public safety, we need to be interested in helping those who are struggling with mental health and addictions – and I’m just seeing a lot of broken promises.

“The City of Calgary does not run the Sheldon Chumir (Centre),” she said. “We do not run Safeworks. We do not provide supervised consumption services. We are not a health-based order of government.

“That is 100 per cent the responsibility of this provincial government – and I believe the premier indicated somewhere that I had asked for the site to be closed.

“What I asked for was a commitment to the promises that were made.

“How will you replace this site? When will you do it and when will you actually do the consultation with Calgarians?

“Further,” she said, “I asked for a proper working group between the city and the provincial government so we can get this right.”

With files from The Canadian Press and Matthew Scace