Conservatives would scale back supervised drug consumption sites, Poilievre says

OTTAWA — Supervised consumption sites are just “drug dens” that a future Conservative government would seek to close and not provide with “a single taxpayer dollar,” Pierre Poilievre said Friday.

During a visit to a park near one such site in Montreal, Poilievre said he would shutter all locations near schools, playgrounds and “anywhere else that they endanger the public.”

“Radical bureaucrats don’t have the right to open these drug dens anywhere they want,” he said.

The first supervised injection site opened in Vancouver more than 20 years ago.

The sites are intended to prevent overdoses by allowing people to bring their drugs to use under the observation of trained staff. They also provide access to clean supplies to reduce rates of HIV and other diseases, as well as offer referrals to people seeking treatment options.

Health Canada says more than 40,000 people have died from toxic drugs since 2016, when the agency began tracking these figures. In 2023, British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario led the country in terms of the number of deaths. Most who died were men.

A 2011 Supreme Court ruling said that closing the Vancouver operation would deprive users of their Charter rights.

Poilievre said Friday that landmark decision does not mean supervised drug sites can operate anywhere without any restrictions.

Rather, he believes “reasonable restrictions” can be put in place to prevent them from opening “in locations that endanger the community, or where there is community opposition.”

In an exchange with a reporter, Poilievre repeatedly referred to the sites as “drug dens” that concern residents.

“Wacko politicians and the Liberals and the NDP and their supporters in the media want to make it sound like there’s a constitutional obligation that we allow these drug dens anywhere they want to go up. That is not true,” he said.

The federal government authorizes the sites by granting an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Poilievre suggested that same act gives the government the power to close down sites it had already authorized.

“That’s what I will do,” he said.

His office would provide no more information when asked for specifics of how he would do that.

The former Conservative government passed the Respect for Communities Act following the Supreme Court’s decision, requiring prospective supervised consumption sites to meet a suite of 26 criteria in order to open.

That included tracking crime rates and providing medical evidence, along with handing in letters from provincial health ministers, local police and other stakeholders.

The act was panned by opposition parties and health groups who said it blocked sites from opening, bogged down the application process and created unnecessary barriers.

After they were elected in 2015, the Liberals passed their own law allowing facilities to open with more ease, citing the need to better respond to the overdose crisis.

Health Canada said as of Friday there are 38 supervised consumption sites across the country, and eight pending applications.

Under existing criteria, a group wishing to open a site must provide information such as the population it hopes to serve, the number of overdoses in the area and the security measures it would take.

The application must also include a summary of the consultation efforts made with the community, but it is not mandatory to include a letter of opinion from a provincial health minister.

The Montreal site near Poilievre’s Friday event is one of those pending federal approval. It has been given a temporary approval by the province. It is located inside the Maison Benoît-Labre, a housing project with apartments for people experiencing homelessness and living with addiction or mental health issues.

Jane Philpott, the former Liberal health minister who ushered in the current government’s amendments to the law, rejects Poilievre’s characterization.

“These are not ‘drug dens,’ they are health centres,” Philpott, now the dean of health sciences at Queen’s University, posted on X.

A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Marc Miller, who represents the riding the Montreal site is located in, said in a statement late Friday the minister knows its opening has caused concern. But the minister’s office accused Poilievre of wanting to incite fear, not deal with parents’ concerns.

The statement said the sites are life-saving, but “it’s important that they’re administered in the right way.”

Gord Johns, the NDP’s critic in Parliament on the issue, said shutting them down would only lead to people using drugs elsewhere.

“It becomes an absolute disaster in the bathrooms of small businesses, in our parks, in our schoolyards, in the back alleys, in the backyards of people in the community.”

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks’ office said in a statement Friday that placing more restrictions on federally approved sites could cause greater harm, and noted staff at supervised consumption sites have reversed around 55,000 overdoses since 2017.

The federal government also doesn’t provide core funding to the sites, it added. Rather, it sends money to specific organizations that offer different harm reduction services.

Speaking at a news conference in British Columbia, NDP Premier David Eby said he hopes to make the case that closing these sites “would be a real mistake.”

“Both in terms of quality of life in the broader community, but also in terms of our efforts to keep people alive.”

Since becoming leader in 2022, Poilievre has attacked the Liberals for advancing what he says are failed drug polices that do not offer people options for treatment. He has also been promoting a tough-on-crime agenda.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police told The Canadian Press in a statement last month evidence shows supervised consumption sites have proven to reduce fatal overdoses, connect users with support services and led to “decreased injections in public.”

“However, the (association) also recognizes that there is a risk of neighbourhood degradation in areas containing, or close to, supervised consumption sites,” it reads.

“This, in turn, could cause social challenges that could have an impact on policing in the area,” the group said, adding it believes local health and police authorities should be involved in the approval process.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2024.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press