City receives funds for harm-reduction van

Community members in Brandon can expect to access a harm-reduction outreach van in the new year.

Health Canada has provided the City of Brandon with $340,740 after a proposal was approved earlier this year for emergency funding for overdose prevention, said Shannon Saltarelli, the city’s community housing and wellness co-ordinator.

“A lot of this work will be concentrated in areas where vulnerable people are,” she said, adding that the van will go where it’s needed to assist community members, but it will likely be centred downtown.

“That could be homeless encampments, areas where we know people are congregating, you know, nearby or outside of existing service agencies.”

The outreach van will offer safe use supplies — including clean needles and pipes to reduce the risk of a person using a dirty needle — as well as water, snacks and referrals to connect people with housing, addictions or mental health supports.

The outreach van is not authorized to operate as a mobile overdose prevention site like the vehicle operated by Sunshine House in Winnipeg, where trained staff supervise people using drugs, Mayor Jeff Fawcett said.

The service will be operated in partnership with the Southern Chiefs Organization, which has experience providing crisis intervention and harm reduction, to address a rise in drug use, overdoses and homeless encampments.

The SCO will staff the van and determine its hours of operation, including when services are expected to start. Saltarelli said she’s hopeful the service will be running in the new year.

“People always associate harm reduction with drugs, but harm reduction can be viewed as … reducing harm for anybody in an unsafe situation,” Saltarelli said.

Harm reduction can also be about assisting a person who’s at risk of being exploited by taking them to a safe location, she said.

While organizations like Bear Clan Patrol, Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine and the Sexual Education Resource Centre already offer harm-reduction services in the community, the City of Brandon proposed that the outreach van will address accessibility gaps by providing services on evenings and weekends, Saltarelli said.

“I would say at any given time in Brandon, we probably have somewhere around 300 people or more that are experiencing some form of houselessness, whether it’s precarious housing or they’re sheltered or they’re unsheltered,” she said.

However, many cases of people experiencing homelessness are under-reported. This year alone, nearly 700 people reported experiencing homelessness at some point and were connected to a shelter in Brandon, Saltarelli said.

She said she is excited for the City of Brandon to collaborate with the SCO and help people living in precarious situations that need to be reached in “very meaningful ways.”

The Brandon Sun reached out to the SCO for an interview, but they did not respond before press time.

In a news release Tuesday, SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said the partnership is about meeting people with dignity, respect and the supports they deserve to create a pathway of safety and care for those who need it most.

“Harm reduction must be rooted in culture, community and a trauma-informed approach,” Daniels said.

The city has secured federal funding until October 2026, at which point Saltarelli will inquire about having the funds extended into 2027, she said.

“This is what I would consider a pilot program, you know, but we’re really excited to see what happens, to see the positive impact in our community,” she said.

Fawcett said there’s a “massive need” for these services in the community that the city has been working to address for a while.

The SCO will be able to make strong community connections and direct people to resources or supports they need, which may help to offset a strain on emergency medical services, he said.

“I think we have to utilize all the tools that are available to us,” Fawcett said.

“We know we need this assistance in the community because otherwise it’s police or paramedics or someone in the health-care system that’s dealing with things.”

Fawcett said he’s grateful to have the Southern Chiefs Organization play an active role in the community and for the federal government to put money toward the service.

He said there haven’t been any discussions so far about whether Brandon will have a mobile overdose prevention site in the future.

“If the province brought that to us, then it would be a discussion, but it’s not at the top of our priority list,” he said.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to solving the overdose crisis, federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel said in the news release.

“By investing in community-driven, culturally relevant, and evidence-based initiatives, we are making sure people have access to the care and support they need, close to home,” Michel said.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com