'This space is long overdue': Manitoba government provides more details on safe consumption site

The Manitoba government has announced an initial price tag for the development of a safe consumption site in Winnipeg.

The province and the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg (AHWC) will be partnering to bring the site to life, with the government providing $727,000.

"We know that a service model grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, world views and perspectives is needed, and the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre is well-positioned to ensure community needs are centred," said Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith in a news release.

The AHWC will be in charge of the service design and delivery at the consumption site, the province said. There will also be a new Shared Health coordinator that will "ensure integration with the broader provincial mental health and addiction system."

In the NDP's spring budget, they promised $2.5 million for the facility and the goal is to have it running in 2025.

"This space is long overdue. Our Indigenous and non-Indigenous relatives continue to die from overdoses and the toxic drug supply, and we must do more," said Della Herrera, the executive director of the AHWC, in a news release.

The province said staff at the consumption sites are trained to deal with accidental overdoses and will be able to help people find health and social services.

Mike Hawkins isn't as enthusiastic about the plan. He is staying in a downtown area shelter and believes a supervised site is needed, but has mixed feelings on the idea of a regulated space to allow drug use.

"It's promoting too, at the same time when you do that," he said. "You get more and more people shooting up, doing meth."

In order to run a supervised drug use location, an exemption must be granted by the federal government. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on Friday if he is elected prime minister, he would shut down sites near schools and playgrounds.

The exemption process for the facility could take four months.

The site is expected to be open daily from 9 a.m. to midnight, however, a location for the site still hasn't been decided.