Province seeking NGO bids to operate safe consumption site
Health minister says goal is to ‘save the lives of Islanders’
“This minister has been sitting on his hands for so long that the province’s licence to create this overdose prevention site was in danger of expiring.”
Peter Bevan-baker
After making a budgetary commitment in March 2021, the province issued a tender this month seeking an operator of a safe consumption site.
A request for proposals was posted on the P.E.I. government’s website on Nov. 18 seeking bids from companies or NGOS for the operation of an overdose prevention site, also known as a safe consumption site.
In other provinces, these sites operate through an exemption to Canadian drug laws and allow individuals to use illicit drugs in a space where staff are trained to reverse overdoses.
Safe consumption sites do, in fact, save lives. The sites have increasingly become part of mainstream public health practice amid the ongoing opioid epidemic. No individual in Canada has died from an overdose at any such site, Health Canada says, while tens of thousands of overdoses have been reversed.
P.E.I. does not currently have a safe consumption site. Since 2016, at least 40 Islanders have died due to accidental opioid-related overdoses – six of which have been linked to fentanyl, according to the province’s Chief Public Health Office.
The tender says P.E.I.’S site would be located in Charlottetown, would be staffed by at least three people at all times and would operate seven days a week “with consistent hours” on weekdays and weekends.
The tender also says the overdose prevention site would provide supervision of drug consumption of intravenous, intranasal and oral substances.
The site would also provide overdose response and drug checking services, as well as safe disposal of harm reduction supplies.
The province committed $250,000 to implement a safe consumption site in March of 2021, more than 20 months before the request for proposals was posted.
The public tender did not include a dollar figure for how much the operator would receive.
OPPOSITION QUESTIONS DELAYS
During Question Period on Nov. 23, Green Opposition Leader Peter Bevan-baker asked Health Minister Ernie Hudson about the delays in establishing a safe consumption site.
Bevan-baker noted documents obtained by Saltwire Network showed the province secured approval from Health Canada of an exemption to federal drug laws – needed to open such a site – in June 2021.
“This minister has been sitting on his hands for so long that the province’s licence to create this overdose prevention site was in danger of expiring,” Bevan-baker said.
“Why did you need that extension and how much longer will the feds give you to actually get one of these sites established here – not an RFP, but get a site established here on Prince Edward Island?”
“As the leader of the Opposition should know that there are steps, yes, that do have to be taken as we proceed with these initiatives,” Hudson said, noting the province has hired a harm reduction co-ordinator.
“Next step, the issuing of the RFP and, as I said, this speaks to our commitment on this side of the house with having an overdose prevention site up and operational.”
Speaking to reporters afterwards,
Hudson suggested some of the delays in posting the tender were due to an “extremely heavy workload” taken on by health-care staff.
“I'm quite prepared to take any criticism on this. But at the end of the day it is, it's the staff that worked tirelessly to bring these initiatives out."
‘SAVE THE LIVES OF ISLANDERS’
When asked what the goal of the site would be, Hudson was succinct.
“To save the lives of Islanders,” he said.
Hudson said he hopes to secure the partnership of a non-governmental organization to operate the site. He says most overdose prevention sites in Canada have been operated by nonprofits or NGOS because of their relationships in the community.
Hudson declined to provide a location for the safe consumption site.
Hudson’s colleague, Social Development and Housing Minister Matthew Mackay, has suggested the province is hoping to emulate a facility run in Ottawa by the Shepherds of Good Hope, which has a building that contains emergency shelter beds, transitional housing and a safe consumption site, among other services.
Bradley Cooper, a political advisor with the Native Council of P.E.I., said his organization is “investigating the feasibility of operating this site ourselves.”
Cooper said NCPEI does not yet know if it will submit a proposal.
“We believe that this is a great initiative on behalf of the province and support this direction towards better mental health and addictions services,” Cooper said in an email.
The deadline for submissions to the province’s proposal is Dec. 16.