Minister faces critics of supervised drug site at forum

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This article was published 09/12/2025 (237 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s addictions minister defended the proposed inner-city location of a supervised drug consumption site, which the government wants to open as early as next month, at the first of two public consultations Tuesday.

“This is going to make such a tremendous difference in our community,” said Bernadette Smith, MLA for Point Douglas.

“This is where the data tells us that the supervised consumption needs to be, because the majority of overdoses have happened in this area. Winnipeg fire, paramedics, police, front-line organizations are telling us through the data that it needs to be in this area,” she told the crowd of about 100 business owners and community members.

The provincial government said on Friday it had identified a warehouse at 366 Henry Ave., west of Main Street, as its preferred location. It was immediately criticized by shop owners, many of whom do auto body work and already contend with discarded needles and crime because homeless shelters are nearby.

Smith said she thought the consultation went well.

“Lots of people came out, and it’s about listening and consulting with the community… if the community speaks out and this isn’t the right site, we’ll move on from it.”

A virtual town hall is scheduled for Thursday. A third meeting, specifically for business owners, has since been scheduled for Monday.

The proposed site is the government’s second choice. The first choice, at 200 Disraeli Fwy., was taken off the table in September because Point Douglas residents vehemently opposed it, partly because a high school and daycare are nearby.

Attendees who spoke Tuesday evening were largely critical of the Henry Avenue location. Some carried signs and raised them while panellists spoke, including “Point Douglas residents deserve a safe neighbourhood” and “Wab Kinew: buy my house.”

An attendee, who described himself as a business owner, asked why the community was notified on Friday, after the province purchased the building.

“How is this building already getting emptied without our notice?” he said.

He invited the panellists to take a walk around the block to see how unsafe the community has become.

“Why don’t we have a facility to show you how to rob a store? …I just don’t get how we are going backwards,” he said to cheers from the crowd.

Winnipeg Police Service deputy chief of operations Scott Halley, who took questions at the meeting, said that the service supports a “health-led approach to addictions” and called the safety of community members the “utmost priority.”

“We can’t arrest everybody and take them off the streets,” he said. “We haven’t seen success, and we need to try a different approach.”

Among the attendees was Union Gospel Mission executive director Frank Ulrich, who explained the church provides programs to people dealing with addictions that is across the street from the proposed location.

“Lots of people came out, and it’s about listening and consulting with the community… if the community speaks out and this isn’t the right site, we’ll move on from it.”

“It is not conducive to men struggling with addictions to have a supervised consumption site within 200 metres,” he said.

Several spoke in support of the location. One attendee, who described himself as a former addict, said the plan is on the “right track” and asked his neighbours to keep an open mind.

“If you have your fears, bring it to the table, and we will, as a community, work through it one by one,” he said.

Tory Jeff Bereza was at Tuesday’s meeting. After it ended, he said Smith and other panelists failed to answer many of the questions posed by residents.

“The community needs to be involved,” he said. “Let’s be honest here, the community was not aware of what was going on here … what kind of government keeps that information away from the public?”

Earlier Tuesday, Premier Wab Kinew used a slogan from the cough medicine brand Buckley’s to describe the implementation of a safe consumption site — “it tastes awful, and it works” — and asked community members to “look at the bigger picture” ahead of the evening meeting.

“I recognize that people might be uncomfortable with the idea, but… we have to look at the bigger picture of the health needs of what’s happening in our communities, safety needs in our communities.”

“I recognize that people might be uncomfortable with the idea, but… we have to look at the bigger picture of the health needs of what’s happening in our communities, safety needs in our communities,” he said.

Kinew said the government would consider adding more consultation sessions. While January is still the ideal opening period, Kinew said further consultation could delay it “by a few weeks.”

“We’ve changed the location already, we’ve added another consultation session, we’re going to continue to be flexible — I’m asking people to be flexible too, here,” he said.

“We know we need to take action on drugs, we’re doing the law enforcement, we’re doing the prevention, we’re doing the treatment, we need to have this piece according to the experts.”

The Henry Ave. site could open in January as an urgent public health needs site, a federal designation that would allow it to run on a temporary basis, while the province seeks a federal exemption to allow it to run a site on an ongoing basis.

The site will be managed by the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre.

Monica Cyr, the centre’s senior director of clinical operations and research, said they would collect data, including personal health identification numbers, “in time,” but would offer anonymity to clients at first while working to build trust.

An information sheet handed out at the consultation meeting said the site would have a two-part approach: first, a temporary site would be delivered out of a vehicle at 366 Henry Ave. while the building is renovated, with the long-term site in the building to open later in 2026.

—with files from Gabrielle Piché

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

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