The Manitoba government has proposed a plan for a locally-run controlled consumption site in Winnipeg

The province says it is considering a community proposal for a locally-run controlled consumption space in downtown Winnipeg.

The coalition behind the idea, led by the Center for Aboriginal Health and Wellness, includes Sunshine House, Ka Ni Kanichihk, Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, Main Street Project and Substance Counseling Partners.

Sunshine House has been operating for more than a year Manitoba's only mobile overdose prevention site A drive-thru near Main Street and the Disraeli Freeway offers drug users a place to test their drugs and staff trained to respond to overdoses.

“It's exciting to work in this kind of landscape where you have community support, a provincial government that's really open to dialogue, to listening,” Sunshine House executive director Levi Foy told CBC News on Tuesday.

However, he said: “We need to move faster … We know the situation is getting worse, there are many challenges facing our communities.”

Preliminary information from the chief medical officer of the province suggests that 355 Manitobans died of suspected overdoses Between January and October 2023, that's 63 fewer than the 2022 record of 418.

Bernadette Smith's mandate as Minister of Housing, Addiction and Homelessness is to create the province's first supervised consumption facility in Winnipeg.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, he said: “We are carefully considering the proposal from the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Center and our community partners as a solution to help our relatives on their journey to recovery.”

“The toxicity of medicines is increasing”

Foy said the group hopes to get more money to run Sunshine House's overdose prevention RV five days a week. However, their ideal target is a permanent controlled consumption location near Higgins Avenue and Main Street in the heart of Winnipeg.

“With 250 visits a day, it was clear that we needed something there, and it was clear that the services we were providing were just a stop-gap,” Foy said.

“Right now we're all doing it at our desks, so it would be great if we had project managers and people who could dedicate 35 to 40 hours a week to really make this a thing.”

Harm Reduction RV received a federal exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in October 2022 to operate in downtown Winnipeg, the West End, North End and Point Douglas communities.

The community reception and resource center raised about $375,000 last year to keep the RV going until the end of March, as the funding agreement with Health Canada for the mobile site is expected to dry up by the end of October.

Foy said operational funding from the city is unlikely, and a mix of funding from the province and private and public donors is the last option for Sunshine House.

The mobile site is seeing “consistently high numbers” and the community needs to know whether the service will continue to be offered after July 1, he said.

“We can do something really unique”

There are also some services that are not provided outside of the RV. They require an intervention of clinical and community services provided by the coalition.

“Fairly speaking, we want to improve our services because drug toxicity is increasing,” Foy said. “We're operating in a very uncontrolled environment in a very confined space.”

Foy said an online form asking people to support the coalition's proposal has nearly 700 signatures.

“If we all come together and come together in tandem, we can create something truly unique, beautiful and indigenously driven.”