The future of the supervised consumption site at the Sheldon Chumir Centre in Calgary’s beltline could be decided this week.
City council is expected to vote Wednesday on a motion put forward by Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean to ask the Alberta government to close the site and invest in other prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery supports for people experiencing addictions and mental health challenges.
The site has been a magnet for concerns about crime and safety in downtown Calgary since it opened in 2019.
But as the weekly council meeting began on Tuesday (Oct. 29), about 40 supporters of the facility rallied outside city hall to show their opposition to the closure.
“A lot of research supports the benefits of these sites,” addictions medical specialist Dr. Kate Colizza said. “But unfortunately the site has become an easy scapegoat for a lot of other problems.”
“We hear the concerns about safety and social disorder in downtown Calgary, and in locations across the country,” Colizza added. “But the fact is these problems are not happening because of the supervised consumption services and in fact the research shows these sites help reduce some of those concerns.”
“People don’t have access to basic needs, so they’re finding other means of survival,” rally organizer Sydney Boa said. “That could be drug use, that could be street-level crime; those things are not going to go away with the site closure, they are going to increase.”
Colizza said that “really, we should be advocating for low-barrier mental health supports and investment in affordable housing.”
“Most of us agree we need more sites. If we can reduce the demand on a single site, that might address some of the concerns that residents have.”
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has previously said the fate of the supervised consumption site is up to the province because it falls within provincial jurisdiction.
In a recent letter to Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams, Gondek said she agrees that the existing supervised consumption model is not working as intended.
But she also said that closing the centre “without proper alternatives will immediately force those seeking support onto the streets or into their homes, driving up drug poisoning deaths and creating unsafe situations throughout communities in Calgary.”
“There must be a comprehensive plan from the government of Alberta to deal with mental health and addictions treatment for Calgarians who desperately need supports,” Gondek added.
Debate on the motion is expected to take place on Wednesday (Oct. 30).