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Advocates say the Manitoba government's plan to detain people high on long-acting drugs like methamphetamine in a Winnipeg detox center for up to 72 hours could put marginalized people at greater risk.
A large group of more than 100 protesters gathered outside the Manitoba Legislative Building in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon, calling on the government to reconsider Bill 48, which increased the length of time a person can be detained for being highly intoxicated from 24 hours to 72 hours.
the bill passed through the Legislative Assembly earlier this month.
On Monday The province offered the media a tour of the 20-room pre-trial detention center at 190 Disraeli Fwy., scheduled to open later this month. An additional 20 rooms are expected to be added later.
Rally organizer Monica Ballantyne said the government had made a “hasty decision” without much public consultation. She is concerned that people who use substances will experience withdrawal symptoms and die as a result.
“Being a person who had to get sober… I was kept in cells where the person next to me didn't survive the night. For me, I just know it’s going to happen,” Ballantyne said.
She said the fear of being caught could also push people to go into hiding and use drugs alone.
“You'll hide, you'll mind your own business, your tolerance will go down, and they'll overdose on their own,” Ballantyne said.
“If I had been thrown into this detention center, I think I would have hidden my addiction even more,” she said.
Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said in a statement emailed to CBC News on Sunday that the goal of the new detox center is to “keep people safe during the most dangerous moments of intoxication and psychosis.”
On Monday, the Manitoba government gave media a tour of its new 20-bed detox center for people under the influence of alcohol, located at 190 Disraeli Fwy., before it opens the facility's doors later this month.
Smith said the facility would provide “real support” for people living there, with the ability to connect to additional services when they leave the center.
Advocates at Sunday's rally questioned whether adequate health care and addiction support would be provided. They also expressed concerns about whether the facility would provide culturally appropriate care to Indigenous members.
Health officials said Monday that the detention center will have paramedics on duty and provide more medical supervision than the existing 24-hour facility run by the Main Street Project. The new 72-hour center will also be operated by a non-profit group.
People will need to be medically cleared at a hospital before going to a detox center, health officials said.
Joseph Furre, founder of the Singing Red Bear Foundation, said seeing images and video of the facility's steel doors and white walls earlier this week broke his heart.
“I've been in institutions, I've been in prisons, and this was prison,” Fourre said.
“There was really nothing in that space that was conducive to my desire to seek treatment for recovery,” he said.
Fourre said the province's approach “is not a humane way to treat everyone who has a drug problem.” Instead, he would like to see a strategy that reduces wait times at treatment centers and expands access to drug treatment for people who choose to get sober.
But he fears that people who go through Disraeli's site will “come out worse than they went in.”
In her statement, Smith said the center's goals are to “prevent harm, protect the public and connect people to help when they are most vulnerable.”
But Ballantyne questions whether this approach will truly keep community members safe.
“If you take 20 to 40 people off the streets, you won’t see a difference in safety for the community. And you definitely won’t see a sense of safety and recovery for those detained,” she said.
