Calgary city council votes against advocating for closure of downtown safe consumption site

Calgary city council has voted not to ask the province to make a decision on the supervised drug consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre.

Council voted 9-5 to defeat the motion with Mayor Jyoti Gondek voting to not write a letter to the Alberta government in support of shutting down the site.

“This is not our jurisdiction,” said Gondek. “We got baited into doing something and I hope it doesn’t happen again.”

“Just because a minister asks us to make a decision that’s not ours to make, doesn’t mean we need to bring a notice of motion forward to do it.”

An original motion put forward by Coun. Dan McLean was replaced by another that would ask the mayor to write a letter asking the province to make a decision about the site.

McLean’s motion would have asked council to advocate to the Alberta government for the closure of the site, claiming it is a source of crime and disorder.

He also cited the province’s move to the Alberta Recovery Model, which adopts a so-called recovery-oriented approach, as justification for his decision.

The Safeworks Supervised Consumption Site provides a place where people who use drugs are monitored and have access to sterile supplies.

A Maru Public Opinion poll done for CityNews last month shows Calgarians are nearly split when it comes to the potential closure of the site; 52 per cent of respondents said they wanted to see the site shut down, while 48 per cent said they want to keep it open.

Residents in opposition of the site’s closure gathered on Tuesday morning for a rally to protest its possible closure.

With files from Lauryn Heintz and Logan Stein