Calgary, Province Spar Over Drug Consumption Site Closing

People wait to enter the Safeworks supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in Calgary on Aug. 26, 2021. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

The Alberta government wants Calgary city council to take the lead on closing down a drug consumption site in the city, while Calgary’s mayor says the city has been waiting for years for the province to come up with a solution.

In an Oct. 2 post on the X platform, Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Dan Williams publicized a letter on the matter that he wrote that day to Calgary’s council.

In his letter, Williams asked the Calgary mayor and council for their position on closing the downtown Sheldon M. Chumir drug consumption site and transitioning it to addiction recovery care. If city council approves such a change, Williams wrote, the province will help develop a “comprehensive addiction recovery plan” with municipal partners and relevant stakeholders.

Williams’s letter was responding to a post on X earlier in the day by Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek in which she said any decision on drug consumption sites lies with the province.

“In May 2021, the Province realized that the existing supervised consumption model in Calgary was not working & the detrimental impacts to neighbourhood residents and businesses had to be addressed. I agreed with the assessment then, and I still do,” she wrote in a subsequent post.

She shared an Oct. 2 letter to Williams in which she said it’s not her role as mayor to make decisions about provincial health services and facilities and that the government has to come up with a mental health and addictions plan.

Gondek’s letter was prompted, she said, by recent remarks by Williams that Calgary must decide what to do about the site. “Health and addictions are provincial responsibilities,” Gondek wrote, saying the city has been waiting since 2022 for the provincial government to offer additional or alternative solutions.

Closing the Sheldon M. Chumir Centre without proper alternatives “will immediately force those seeking support on to the streets or into their homes, driving up drug poisoning deaths and creating unsafe situations throughout communities in Calgary,” she wrote in her letter.

Closing the site would also lead to “further issues,” such as people using drugs at transit stops because police are present to deal with overdoses, she wrote.

In his response letter, attached to his social media post, Williams wrote that drug consumption sites have been a “contentious” issue with “public safety challenges” and “community concerns” with the Sheldon Chumir site.

“Unfortunately, decisions have often been made without the involvement of the affected community,” he wrote in the letter.

“It is clear Calgarians do not support, nor is it in the community’s interest to support, opening new drug sites across the city,” Williams said.

“Any proposal to expand with new drug consumption sites is not an option I am willing to seriously consider as Minister of Mental Health and Addiction,” he said.

Williams also wrote that if the city disagreed with his position and wanted to see new drug consumption sites, its proposal would need to include a “clear list of preferred locations.”

“Any location choice and zoning for new drug consumption sites in Alberta falls squarely within the purview of the municipality.”

Council has scheduled a debate on whether to close the site for its Oct. 29 meeting.

Ontario Bans Sites Near Schools

Alberta is not the only province struggling with challenges at drug consumption sites. The Government of Ontario recently announced a ban on the sites within 200 metres of schools and child care centres.

The decision means that about nine of the province’s 22 drug consumption sites and one self-funded site will have to close. The government said the deadline for the sites to stop services is March 31, 2025.

Premier Doug Ford’s government said it plans to introduce legislation to prohibit municipalities or organizations from setting up new drug consumption sites, according to an Aug. 20 Ontario news release. The legislation will also prevent these groups from participating in “safer supply initiatives,” the release said.

Municipalities will also be prohibited from asking the federal government to decriminalize illegal drugs.

Ontario said it will mandate new protections for community safety around the remaining sites, including requirements for safety and security plans and a no loitering policy.