Safety in Calgary’s downtown core was front and centre on the campaign trail Wednesday as mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp said she’d call on the province to close the supervised consumption site downtown, and to deconcentrate the city’s largest homeless shelter.
Sharp, who represents Ward 1 on council and is running for mayor under the Communities First party banner, made the announcement Wednesday morning at a barber shop across the street from the supervised consumption site at the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre.
“What is happening around here is simply not acceptable and something needs to change,” Sharp said.
Sharp said the city and province have been “going around in circles” on the issue for years, and if elected, she would formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her government to close the SafeWorks supervised consumption site “at their earliest possible convenience.”
While operations within the site are provincial jurisdiction, Sharp said public safety concerns in the surrounding area fall within the city’s purview.
“Look at the amount of people we’re moving down here,” Sharp said. “We talk about wanting people to live, work and play in our downtown, you can’t do that when you’re afraid and you’re not safe.”
Four years ago, under former premier Jason Kenney’s government, the province said it would close the Safeworks supervised consumption site in the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre as part of a “city-by-city approach regarding the location of supervised consumption services.” However, the site remains open.
Last year, the province said it would close the site only if Calgary city council approved the move, a point Smith reiterated on Wednesday.
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“We’re getting to a point where we have enough of those wraparound supports that I think we can shut down the (Sheldon Chumir supervised consumption site),” Smith said.
“If a city requests a safe consumption site to be shut down, we’ll shut it down.”
However, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said it’s the province’s responsibility to determine whether the site is shuttered, as it is a health care facility, and noted she has had conversations with several ministers about alternate plans and services to replace the site.
“But nothing ever happens,” Gondek said. “If you close the site without an alternative, all of those folks will be on the street and that is not the solution we need.”
As for the Calgary Drop-In Centre, Gondek said there have been discussions about de-centralizing its services.
Sharp is promising to invite Smith, the chief of Calgary police, and CEO of the Drop-in Centre to city hall for an initial discussion.
The Calgary Drop-In Centre told Global News it remains “steadfast” in its commitment to “adapt and evolve” its services, which includes decentralization.
“Guided by our 2024–2030 strategic plan, we are focused on reducing the impacts of homelessness through improved access, expanded supports, and innovative approaches such as a decentralized hub-and-spoke model of care,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are ready to work collaboratively with all levels of government to explore opportunities that strengthen the spectrum of services we provide.”
Karen McPherson, operations director for BeTheChangeYYC, said outreach volunteers have been avoiding the area around the Drop-In Centre due to a “high concentration” of need, and they don’t have enough resources to help everyone.
She noted a decentralized model could be beneficial under the right circumstances.
“Having more distributed services around, especially the downtown core… I think would be really helpful, as long as that’s done in a supportive way where people know where to find their services,” she said.
Sharp’s proposal is facing pushback from The Calgary Party‘s mayoral candidate Brian Thiessen, one of her main opponents in the race.
Thiessen said the proposal is “reckless” and without a plan to address an increase in public disorder if the supervised consumption site is closed.
“It pushes all the drug use onto the CTrains, and into the neighbourhoods around it and that’s really dangerous if you don’t have a comprehensive plan,” Thiessen said.
Sharp promised support for the province in “what they want to do next,” whether that be finding alternate sites, policing and city services or permitting.
Calgarians head to the polls on Oct. 20.
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