Alberta’s recovery-based model sparks protest

As Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke at the Alberta Recovery Capital Tuesday in Calgary, protesters gathered outside to speak out against Alberta’s recovery-based model.

The conference saw Smith announce $275 for mental health and addiction ministry to “ensure that everyone has the opportunity to access recovery.”

“This record-breaking investment would be used to focus on key priorities, including increasing our harm reduction programs and helping our partners further increase access to treatment and recovery supports,” Smith said in her speech at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Calgary.

The funds announced as part of the province’s proposed Budget 2023, which will be revealed further in late February, would go towards the Alberta model, which focuses mainly on recovery in dealing with substance use.

However, dozens of protestors stood outside in the freezing temperatures, rallying against the UCP’s recovery-based approach to tackle the opioid and drug crisis in Alberta.

“The government’s drug policies are, to be frank, killing people,” said Harun Ali, a protestor that stood out in the cold.

“They’re being exploited by drug dealers. They’re paying exorbitant prices, and they’re getting drugs that are typically not safe.”

Harun Ali speaks with reporters outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown Calgary on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Taylor Braat, CityNews photo)

A harm reduction advocate and protestor Chelsea Burnham says a safe supply program was her saving grace.

“They’re only advertising one type of recovery, abstinence-based or 12-step based, and there are all different kinds of recovery,” she said.

“It impacted my life in so many positive ways. I was on the streets at the time and using, and they got me a place at the [YMCA] shortly after joining the program.”

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Smith says some of the money will go towards harm reduction, but it’s not clear how much.

Meanwhile, advocates are fighting to see wrap-around foundational supports, to meet people where they’re at in their substance use journey.

“Safe supply, safe consumption. Harm reduction is part of the continuum of care,” said Frank Fry.

Frank Fry, left, speaks with CityNews with Susan Scott outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown Calgary on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (Taylor Braat, CityNews photo)

He wants to see change and says what the province has been doing is “insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Susan Scott, a Calgarian who also attended the protests, told CityNews, “We have safe places for alcohol, they’re called bars and taverns – but we don’t have safe places for other things.”

The capital conference continues Wednesday, where Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Nicholas Milliken is to announce a new panel of experts in support of Alberta’s recovery-oriented system of care.