Supervised drug consumption site in Winnipeg announced in budget
Plans for a future supervised drug consumption site in Winnipeg are becoming clearer following the release of the Manitoba budget.
The NDP government has set aside $2.5 million for a site in the North Main Street area of Winnipeg.
“We have a very interesting proposal brought forward by an Indigenous-led consortium on a supervised consumption site,” said Premier Wab Kinew. “We're looking at that.”
The site won’t be operating until 2025, the premier said, noting proper consultation with the community is required.
“How do you ensure the impacts on public safety and the immediate neighbourhood are going to be addressed? These things take time,” he said.
Nicole Richard, a Winnipeg resident who knows the area well, said a lot of people in the north Main Street area are struggling with addiction.
“I think it would be one hundred per cent beneficial,” she said.
Not everyone is convinced a safe consumption site is the right solution.
James Audy, a recovering addict and former drug dealer, believes the area will be a magnet for crime.
“It’s a place where a lot of drug dealers would go, a place where people, a lot of people would get hurt, their stuff stolen,” he said.
Harm reduction advocates have long been calling for a site, and welcomed the announcement.
“It would reduce infectious transmissions due to the sharing or the using of a tainted needle,” said Jason Whitford with End Homelessness Winnipeg.
“I’ve been waiting for this change for a long time, so I’m very pleased,” said Arlene Last-Kolb with Moms Stop The Harm.
However, they said there wasn’t enough in the budget to address the prevention of toxic drug deaths by providing a safe supply.
The budget set aside money to cover new initiatives for drug testing in Winnipeg and northern Manitoba. The government will also be spending $1.5 million to expand treatment options, and is spending $500,000 for 24/7 sobering centres in Brandon and Thompson.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.