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CALGARY — Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is in a stand-off with the Alberta government over her city’s only drug-use site, accusing the province of dragging its heels to come up with a solution for its future.
In a letter to Premier Danielle Smith, Gondek said the province has not made good on its promises and that its delay is causing “concern and distress.”
“The lack of follow-through on promised actions by the provincial government remains a significant concern,” Gondek wrote.
The Sheldon Chumir Supervised Consumption Site’s future has been debated since former premier Jason Kenney’s government announced in 2022 that it would shutter the site.
At the time, the government said it would replace the drug-use site with two new ones in “more appropriate locations.”
But the site remains open and the province has yet to outline any other closure plans.
Alberta Addictions Minister Dan Williams said Thursday he’s not interested in setting up more safe consumption sites. The province has argued for a recovery-oriented response to the drug toxicity crisis and has stood against safe-consumption sites.
“I’m not interested in moving the Sheldon Chumir to another community,” Williams told reporters.
“I would like to see a different path forward, not one that facilitates addiction.”
The site in the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre, known as the Safeworks site, provides a hygienic environment for people to use drugs under medical supervision in downtown Calgary.
The impasse goes back to October when Williams asked the city to vote on whether an alternative plan for the site should move forward. The city voted against taking an official position.
Gondek and several councillors have argued the issue is beyond Calgary’s jurisdiction as health matters are the province’s responsibility.
In response, Williams has argued the city is responsible for economic growth, public safety and zoning. He said the city seems more interested in positioning for politics ahead of forthcoming municipal elections.
In her letter, Gondek invited the province to set up a working group between the two governments. Williams has not said whether the province will accept the invitation.
“My position has been consistent since I wrote them in October,” he said.
The province has pressed other municipalities to pursue similar votes.
City councillors in Red Deer, Alta. voted last year to ask the province to wind down its overdose prevention site. Like Calgary, Red Deer can neither pull funding nor operate the site.
The province responded last September by announcing it would not renew funding for the site, instead using public dollars for other services focusing on addiction recovery.
Aaron Brown, a frequent user of the safe-consumption site, filed for an injunction last year to keep the site open, arguing that closing the site would deny him and other drug users essential medical treatment.
A Court of King’s Bench judge denied the application Wednesday, meaning the site will close in the coming days. An appeal of the decision is to be heard in April by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
Williams said the province will end funding for the Red Deer site past March 31. The province is putting “the final touches” on the construction of detox beds there, he said.
“This is a huge suite of recovery-oriented, life-affirming care that will not facilitate addiction,” he said.
— With files from Jack Farrell in Edmonton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2025.
Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press
