Based on coverage from CBC, Global News, The Globe and Mail, CP24, and Times Colonist.
Alberta is set to close the supervised consumption site at Calgary’s Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre and a mobile supervised consumption service in Lethbridge at the end of June, the province announced Friday. The move ends Calgary’s only supervised consumption site, which opened in 2017 and became a flashpoint in the broader Canadian debate over harm reduction versus recovery-focused care.
Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis and Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson say funding will be shifted into treatment and recovery supports. Advocates and some front-line voices warn the closures will increase overdose risk and push drug use further into public spaces.
Calgary Chumir supervised consumption site closing
The Chumir site, often referred to as Safeworks, was Alberta’s first supervised consumption site when it opened in October 2017. Staff have responded to more than 8,000 overdoses since opening, and provincial data shows there have been no deaths on site.
The province says the Chumir closure has been signalled for years. The UCP government first announced plans to close the site in 2021, then reaffirmed that intention again in December, but the timeline repeatedly slipped.
The service has long had vocal supporters who call it a life-saving point of contact for people using toxic street drugs, and equally vocal critics who link it to public drug use, disorder, and increased calls to police in the surrounding downtown area.
Lethbridge mobile unit also shuts down
Alongside Calgary’s fixed site, Alberta will also shutter a mobile supervised consumption service in Lethbridge by the end of June.
Wilson said opioid overdose deaths are down “about 90 per cent” in Lethbridge since the 2023 peak. Ellis also pointed to a broader provincial drop in deaths, saying Alberta’s opioid overdose deaths have fallen “about 39 per cent” since 2023’s peak. Those claims are part of the government’s argument that its shift toward recovery-oriented care is working.
Alberta UCP shifts to recovery approach
Ellis framed supervised consumption sites as a short-term emergency measure that no longer fits Alberta’s direction. Wilson said the goal is to move people into recovery faster, rather than “keep people in this cycle of addiction.”
The province says it will replace the Chumir site’s function with a mix of services aimed at treatment access and outreach. Plans announced include: - Rapid access addiction medicine services in Calgary, focused on same-day addiction counselling and case management - More on-site intake support at the Chumir, provided by a registered nurse - Increased beds and intake hours at the Renfrew Recovery Centre - 24/7 outreach recovery response teams in downtown Calgary to respond to overdoses and connect people to treatment and medical care
Ellis also pointed to recovery infrastructure the province says is expanding, including four of 11 planned recovery communities now open, five planned Indigenous recovery communities, and two compassionate intervention centres, one in Calgary and one in Edmonton. Ellis said those centres will support more than 2,000 Albertans each year.
What remains of Alberta supervised consumption sites
After the end-of-June closures, Alberta will have three supervised consumption sites left: two in Edmonton and one in Grande Prairie.
Both ministers said there are no current plans to close those remaining sites. Wilson suggested Edmonton is a different case, saying the city accounts for about 60 per cent of opioid deaths in Alberta each month, and that the province wants “better insight into exactly what is happening.” Another report cited more than 600 deaths in Edmonton last year.
Critics warn of overdose and emergency strain
People who use the Chumir site say the loss goes beyond a supervised space. One client, Kelly Deschamps, told reporters he relies on Safeworks not just for overdose reversals but also for housing supports, sterile supplies, and basic communication because he does not have a cellphone. He fears more people will overdose outside, and that drug use will become more visible in public.
On the legal front, the province is already facing a court challenge tied to an earlier closure. Aaron Brown sued in November 2024 over the shutdown of the Red Deer site, arguing it violates Charter rights, and that case is continuing. His lawyer, Avnish Nanda, said he expects more legal challenges over the new closures and argued that people need to survive long enough to access recovery.
Local officials are also asking for specifics. Calgary city councillor Nathaniel Schmidt, whose ward includes the Chumir, said he wants clearer details on what supports will be in place and worries police, fire, and other emergency services could be further strained.
The province says it’s replacing supervised consumption with recovery-focused supports. The next few months will show whether those services are in place at the scale and speed needed when the doors close at the end of June.
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