Calgary councillor wants province to shut down Sheldon Chumir supervised consumption site

A Calgary metropolis councillor is pushing to person the state unopen down the supervised depletion site astatine the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre and question alternate options for betterment services.

Coun. Dan McLean enactment guardant an exigency question astatine an enforcement committee gathering connected Wednesday morning, seeking assembly enactment to inquire the Alberta authorities to adjacent the tract and put successful different prevention, intervention, attraction and betterment services and supports for radical experiencing addictions and mental health challenges.

“Safety of Calgarians is paramount and it’s becoming much and much unsafe arsenic each time goes by,” McLean said successful an interrogation with Global News earlier Wednesday’s meeting.

“This is what each the citizens are saying. You conscionable person to locomotion by it. It’s conscionable not safe, they’re burning trees down, you’re stepping connected needles. So the sooner we get this unopen down the better.”

In anticipation of the discussion, Mayor Jyoti Gondek sent a missive to Alberta’s intelligence wellness and addiction curate connected Wednesday morning, asking for the province’s solution anterior to immoderate determination to adjacent the site.

“Closing the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre supervised depletion tract without due alternatives volition instantly unit those seeking enactment connected to the streets oregon into their homes, driving up cause poisoning deaths and creating unsafe situations passim communities successful Calgary,” Gondek wrote successful her missive to Dan Williams.

“It volition besides make further issues, similar radical utilizing drugs astatine transit stops due to the fact that they cognize officers are determination to respond to overdoses.

“There indispensable beryllium a broad program from the authorities of Alberta to woody with intelligence wellness and addictions attraction for Calgarians who desperately request supports, and that program indispensable besides code issues of nationalist information that person been observed with the existing model.”

Global News has reached retired to Williams’ bureau for a effect to Gondek’s missive and volition update this communicative erstwhile it is received.

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In 2021, nether erstwhile premier Jason Kenney’s government, the state said it would adjacent the Safeworks supervised depletion site successful the Sheldon Chumir centre, arsenic portion of a “city-by-city attack regarding the determination of supervised depletion services.” However, the tract remains open.

In her missive to Williams, Gondek said astatine that time, she agreed with the province’s appraisal that the existing supervised depletion exemplary successful the metropolis was not moving arsenic intended. Gondek was a councillor astatine the time. She said Wednesday she inactive agrees with the province’s 2021 assessment.

“I besides hold with the presumption that much attraction beds are needed, and was precise funny successful your government’s musings successful 2022 to harvester addictions attraction with supervised depletion sites, arsenic good arsenic different ways to amended entree to intelligence wellness and addictions support,” Gondek wrote successful her letter.

McLean’s question was carried 9-1. It volition present spell to assembly for a afloat debate.

more to come…