Province asks Calgary to step up fight to tackle fentanyl, social disorder

Alberta’s government has reached out to Calgary and other provincial municipalities, asking them to let police take the lead in battling against fentanyl and social disorder.

A letter from Alberta’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services sent on Feb. 14 asks municipal governments to temporarily allow police departments to offer up bylaw and peace officers to be deployed to address these community concerns.

“It’s a request, not a demand,” says Ellis. “But I think you need to understand we are facing an existential crisis from the Americans when it comes to a 25 per cent tariff.”

Premier Danielle Smith said earlier this month she wants to escalate Alberta’s war on fentanyl and “take immediate steps” to increase police and prosecutorial resources to go after fentanyl labs, “kingpins” and dealers.

The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concerns about the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., citing this as one of his reasons for threatening tariffs on Canadian imports.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says the sort of cooperation Ellis wants from municipalities is already underway. The mayor says the city introduced a Public Transit Safety Strategy in 2023, which sees integration between peace officers, transit officers and the police service, along with security guards and outreach teams.

“We’ve had an integrated response model for a number of years,” says Gondek.

She says local crime is down 42 per cent and social disorder incidents are down by 15 per cent.

Gondek says she doesn’t believe the issues stem from a lack of boots on the ground.

“One of the requests I have of the minister is if we have someone in a position of crisis, or someone who is openly using drugs, there is no where to take them,” she says.

In response, Ellis pointed out the navigation and support centre that opened in Calgary last summer. The centre offers services like income support, housing options, addiction treatment, and helping people get identification — modelled after a similar facility in Edmonton.

“I’m sure the mayor is completely aware, maybe it just slipped her mind, but we have a navigation centre and a place that has helped out over 3,000 people in the city of Edmonton,” says Ellis. “I’m sure we’re up to 1,000 people in the city of Calgary as well.”

Provincial numbers show that 2023 marked a record year for the number of deaths blamed on toxic drugs in Calgary, with 629 lives claimed. Fentanyl was blamed in more than 90 per cent of those deaths.

Calgary Police Service (CPS), meanwhile, said in a statement it’s going to expand its work to focus more on tackling fentanyl and other illicit drugs impacting the city under the direction of the province. The service says details on the recently established initiative Safer Calgary–which will see police and peace officers operate under the CPS to tackle these issues–will be shared in the coming weeks.

Additionally, 50 officers added through provincial grant funding were used to create the Community Engagement Response Teams (CERTs) which work with peace officers and other agencies to address issues such as social disorder and encampments.