Proposed safe consumption site in Winnipeg draws pushback at community meeting

Point Douglas residents packed a banquet hall to learn and ask questions about a controversial supervised consumption site proposed for the neighbourhood.

A supervised consumption site proposed in Winnipeg’s Point Douglas neighbourhood drew community members and officials to a meeting aimed at airing concerns and answering questions about the controversial facility.

The meeting was organized by the community and held Tuesday at Pampanga Restaurant, which is across the street from where the supervised consumption site would be built.

Organizers feel the Kinew government, which initially pitched the site in 2024, hasn’t properly shared its plan with the community.

“Why are they looking at the community? What’s around this community? What residences and businesses are going to be affected by this?” asked Pampanga Restaurant manager Kelly Miranda.

“How is this going to affect us? It’s going to affect us deeply.”

The long-promised supervised consumption site is proposed to be built at 366 Henry Ave. and operated by Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg.

The facility is aimed at addressing the growing number of overdose deaths in Winnipeg and reducing the amount of people using drugs in public.

The site would not provide drugs but would offer drug testing and a space to use, specifically by injection, with staff on-hand.

There is also a RAAM (Rapid Access Addiction Medicine) clinic proposed at the facility.

Residents listened to presentations from a panel of officials - Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg CEO Monica Cyr, Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry), Tory MP Dan Mazier, Winnipeg Police Chief Gene Bowers and provincial Conservative justice critic Wayne Balcaen.

The event was moderated by Derek Finkle, a Toronto-based journalist who has been a vocal critic of such sites.

Cyr told attendees Winnipeg’s overdose crisis has reached a dire level, but said a supervised consumption site won’t be the sole solution.

“We absolutely think we need more detox, we need more treatment. We need so many things,” she said.

“But what we don’t need is for us to be at each other’s throats. What we don’t need is where we’re so busy bickering with each other that we’re not all hands on deck. This is an all hands on deck situation.”

Chief Bowers said while it is not his place to voice an opinion on the site, he felt it important to hear residents’ safety concerns if one were to be built.

He also painted a bleak picture of the city’s ongoing addictions crisis.

“This is something that chiefs of police are struggling with across the country. It’s a very difficult problem to solve,” he said.

Mazier, who is the Tory shadow health critic, told the crowd the ongoing experiment with supervised consumption sites across the country has failed, citing facilities that have shuttered in recent months and years.

Mazier told attendees such sites become magnets for open drug use and crime. He warned Winnipeg’s facility would enable addiction, rather than deter it.

“This is not treatment for addiction. This is a revolving door that fuels addiction,” he said.

Instead, his party has called for more investment in addictions supports and resources to treat the ongoing drug crisis.

- With files from CTV’s Jon Hendricks