The decision landed like a punch nobody wanted to throw but everyone saw coming. After nearly ten years, Calgary’s supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre will close its doors by the end of June. So will another facility in Lethbridge.
I’ve walked past the Chumir countless times while covering stories downtown. The tension around that block is thick enough to cut with a knife. Business owners complain about discarded needles. Residents worry about their kids playing in Central Memorial Park. Meanwhile, vulnerable people line up seeking a place where using drugs won’t kill them.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis announced the closure Friday, standing just a block from the controversial site. His message was clear. The province is shifting away from what he calls “locking people in a cycle of addiction” toward treatment and recovery services. Ellis believes this new approach is already working. He pointed to a 39 percent drop in mostly opioid-related deaths since the crisis peaked in 2023.
“The system is designed to move people forward,” Ellis said. “People will not be left without support. We’re providing a system of care that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.”
That’s a bold claim. Whether it holds up remains to be seen.
Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson joined Ellis at the announcement. He argued that supporting people early keeps them out of emergency rooms. When folks get stabilized quickly, hospitals face less pressure. That’s the theory, anyway.
So what replaces the Chumir site? The province promises 24/7 outreach response teams. They’re expanding rapid addiction medicine services offering same-day counselling access. A registered nurse will provide additional intake support. Lethbridge gets similar services at its Wellness Centre.
Three other supervised consumption sites in Alberta aren’t closing yet. One operates in Grande Prairie. Two are in Edmonton. The ministers said alternatives haven’t developed enough in those communities. But Wilson made one thing crystal clear. No new consumption sites will open. Ever.
He called these facilities temporary measures while better solutions emerged. Now, apparently, those solutions have arrived.
I’ve interviewed dozens of people on both sides of this debate over the years. The divide runs deep. Supporters of supervised sites point to safety records. Nobody has died inside these facilities. Nurses reverse overdoses immediately. Users get connected to health services they’d never access otherwise.
They argue consumption sites are one piece of a larger puzzle. Treatment and recovery matter. So does harm reduction. People need options at different stages of readiness.
Kerry Bales runs Recovery Alberta. She acknowledged the difficulty of changing approaches to addiction. “We know there are no easy solutions or one-size-fits-all models,” Bales said. Fair point. Addiction doesn’t follow a script.
The province cites a recent study from the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence. Researchers found no increase in deaths or emergency visits after Red Deer’s consumption site closed a year ago. That data supports the government’s position. Critics question whether one city’s experience predicts outcomes elsewhere.
Amj Ashour owns London Barbers a block from the Chumir. He welcomed the closure news enthusiastically. “It’s been awful, it’s not been safe for people,” Ashour said. “This is a great idea. Back in the day, kids played in this park but now there are needles on the ground. We tried it and it didn’t work.”
His frustration is real. So is his relief. Business owners and residents around the site have voiced similar concerns for years. They’ve watched their neighbourhood change. Not for the better, they’d say.
But walk another block and you’ll hear a completely different story.
Kris Levesque is 39, originally from Whitecourt. He’s homeless. He’s used the Safeworks site to manage his fentanyl addiction. Levesque understands the neighbourhood impact. He gets why people are angry. But closing the site terrifies him.
“People would be dead without a safe consumption site. It’s a safe haven preventing us from being a statistic on the street,” Levesque said. “Now you’re going to have addicts dozing off all over the place. They’ll be on the street using it elsewhere.”
His prediction is stark. Drug use won’t stop. It’ll just move. Alleys. Doorsteps. Business entrances. Anywhere people can find a moment of privacy.
The opposition NDP agrees with that assessment. Mental Health and Addiction Shadow Minister Janet Eremenko called the UCP government’s fentanyl crisis record a failure. “They have had years to develop a better system to save lives and help people recover,” Eremenko said in a statement. “They have not.”
She warned the closure will push drug use from supervised environments onto streets and into dark alleys. That makes everyone less safe. People with addictions. Healthcare workers. The general public. Eremenko noted that safety concerns exist across cities and towns, not just around consumption sites.
Premier Danielle Smith telegraphed this decision back in December during a Postmedia interview. She indicated the government intended to shutter Safeworks this spring. The move follows previous closures in Red Deer, Edmonton and Lethbridge.
The Chumir site opened in fall 2017. A provincial health department runs it. Nurses monitor users who inject drugs in a medical space. It’s been a lightning rod for controversy since day one.
Calgary Coun. Landon Johnston tried twice to get council’s symbolic support for the provincial closure. He failed both times, in 2024 and again last February. City council remains divided on the issue.
The province is betting big on what it calls the Alberta Recovery Model. A government webpage describes it as a “comprehensive continuum of care for prevention, treatment, intervention and recovery.” That includes $350 million allocated toward establishing 11 addiction recovery communities across Alberta.
Four have opened so far. One operates right here in Calgary. Five more are expected to launch this year.
I’ve covered enough policy shifts to know that ambitious plans and real-world outcomes don’t always match. The province is convinced its treatment-focused approach will work better than harm reduction. Critics fear we’re about to conduct a dangerous experiment on our most vulnerable residents.
Both sides claim they want the same thing. Fewer deaths. Safer streets. People getting their lives back. The disagreement is about how to get there.
The Chumir site closes at the end of June. That gives the province a few months to implement its replacement services. Outreach teams. Rapid access counselling. Nursing support. Whether those alternatives prove sufficient will become apparent soon enough.
What happens to people like Kris Levesque? Where do they go when nurses aren’t available to reverse overdoses? How do business owners like Amj Ashour respond if drug use simply relocates to different streets?
These aren’t hypothetical questions. They’ll get answered in real time over the coming months. Calgary will be watching closely. So will I.
