Calgary committee votes down motion to support drug site closure, seeks clarity

CALGARY – Members of Calgary’s executive committee narrowly voted down a motion that could have symbolically supported the closure of the city’s sole supervised consumption site, looking for more clarity on what the means.

The vote would have agreed on the technical merits of the motion and moved it to city council for review. A successful vote from council would be performative, as municipal health care is a provincial responsibility, but their support would stray from the neutral position taken by the past city council.

The Alberta government said in December that it planned to close the Safeworks Supervised Consumption Site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in downtown Calgary this year in exchange for a treatment program.

The site provides a medically supervised space for drug users to use substances and is meant to reduce deaths from drug toxicity.

The proposed motion from Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston would support the province’s decision for the supervised consumption site’s closure, and commit to working with the province and others involved on a transition plan.

Johnston said there is too much crime around the site and that people feel unsafe.

“I mean the sentiment behind it was great, but again, we tried something, it didn’t work,” Johnston told reporters ahead of the vote. 

“Let’s move on to the next thing and try that.”

Recovery Alberta, a mental health and addictions section of the province’s health care service, didn’t provide details about the proposed treatment centre to replace the site. 

A city document says it would include counselling and treatment planning, links to community pharmacists, other addiction treatment services and HIV screening.

Opponents of the existing site say it makes the area less safe and affects businesses. Proponents say the site saves lives and shuttering the facility could lead to a rise in overdose deaths.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas voted against the motion, stating councillors did not have a chance to review recent amendments. He also took issue with the wording itself.

“It’s unclear what the direction is: are we supporting it financially, is it moral support?” he said during the committee meeting.

Nathaniel Schmidt, the councillor for Ward 8 where the site is located, said the problem is affecting businesses, residents and that the addictions crisis is causing deaths. He said he is looking for real action and a plan.

Jennifer Jackson, a registered nurse and an associate nursing professor at the University of Calgary, spoke to reporters ahead of the vote. She said the city, home to 1.6 million people, needs more supervised consumption sites, not fewer. 

She said the rapid evolution of illicit drugs from plant-based to lab-developed has changed addiction and the path to treatment.

“We are comparing an iPhone to, like, a rotary phone at grandma’s house,” Jackson said. “The idea that people can quit cold turkey or kind of pull up their bootstraps, like that’s just not possible with this grade of substances.”

The United Conservative Party government under former premier Jason Kenney announced in 2022 it would close the Safeworks site. That never came to fruition. 

Kenney openly opposed similar sites and had assembled a panel to investigate their effect on crime, property values and safety. The review panel found people felt less safe in the area, which reportedly lowered property values and affected businesses.

Calgary’s past council voted against taking an official position on the site. Former mayor Jyoti Gondek and several councillors argued the issue is outside city jurisdiction.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2026.