Premier and Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Danielle Smith is reiterating a provincial ministry response to blocked federal funding for SafeLink shelter spaces, citing a 2023 local high school wellness fair where safe drug consumption information was made available to students by way of a brochure. Smith says SafeLink "taught youth how to use deadly illicit drugs," which a local harm-reduction advocate says is twisting the truth to sway public opinion.--CP FILE PHOTO
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
SafeLink is facing possible closure after the province denied access to funds it received from the federal government. Premier and Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Danielle Smith says the government withheld the funds on the basis of a previous grievance with the community centre.
“This service provider partner, SafeLink, is a group that previously taught youth how to use deadly illicit drugs, which is unacceptable,” a statement to the News said.
In 2023, a SafeLink booth at a wellness fair put on by Medicine Hat High School featured a brochure that provided instruction on safety practices related to drug consumption. Backlash against the incident made headlines at the time, prompting a response from Smith, who called it “outrageous.”
SafeLink is currently the only daytime shelter space available in Medicine Hat as it continues to struggle to identify a new permanent location for the Mustard Seed.
Kym Porter, a member of the Medicine Hat Drug Coalition and Moms Stop the Harm, says the province’s approach to recovery does not support harm reduction. She says the denial of the SafeLink funding and the subsequent statements from Smith and her government represents an effort to skew public understanding about what harm reduction entails.
“In my opinion, what the provincial government is dong is twisting the words. They’re wordsmithing it so that the average citizen is not in support of harm reduction.”
Porter says the SafeLink pamphlets are part of a harm reduction model that does not presume abstinence from drug use as a plausible reality for many users, including teenagers. She describes harm reduction strategies as analogous to wearing a seatbelt in a car or a helmet on a bike – measures that acknowledge risk and try to mitigate it.
“It seems like they’re putting their heads in the sand and don’t want to understand that people need to be kept alive through harm reduction means,” she said.
Nathaniel Dueck, press secretary for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction, also mentioned the harm reduction pamphlets as a reason for the denial of the funding request.
“There was not enough comfort or alignment with provincial priorities to approve the funding request,” he said.
Porter says the government’s denial of the funding suggests an ideology of recovery that fails to understand the realities of addiction, and the limits of resources designed to address it.
“I have been talking to people that are right here in Medicine Hat trying to get into recovery and there’s a wait list. So in the meantime, if we don’t have harm-reduction supports in place, those people have the potential to die.”
Dueck says the application as submitted by the City of Medicine Hat failed to meet eligibility criteria for targeted funding to respond to the overdose crisis under the Health Canada Emergency Treatment Fund.
He says the City of Medicine Hat’s request did not mention using the funding to operate a daytime homeless shelter, and that there was insufficient detail or assurance that the funds would prioritize connecting individuals to recovery-oriented supports.
Porter thinks the denial is ideological in nature.
“I’m not surprised by them stripping away the funding from SafeLink. It’s almost like they were just waiting for an opportunity, a ‘gotcha’ moment.”
Smith told the News that Alberta’s government has invested more than $4 million this year to combat homelessness in Medicine Hat, in addition to a $250,000 top-up that she says will nearly double the community’s shelter capacity.
In the absence of the Mustard Seed, the former Roots Youth Shelter, or a daytime program at SafeLink, it is unclear what community shelter capacity Smith is referring to.
It is also unclear where the $4 million investment referenced is headed.
The Mustard Seed’s daytime shelter was closed last February. Roots closed its doors in September.
Porter says the situation for unhoused people in the city is dire and getting worse. The closure of SafeLink would represent a major blow.
There is a detox centre located at the bottom of Kipling Hill, where individuals struggling with substance abuse can access a controlled space to detoxify from alcohol and drugs and access bed-based substance use disorder treatment.
Smith says her government will continue to work with the City of Medicine Hat to find the best ways to help people facing homelessness and addiction access the supports they need.
