Poilievre's campaign promise is to close and block supervised consumption sites from being built within 500 metres of schools and playgrounds, along with cutting all federal funding for alternative drug programs.
With two weeks until the federal election, comments made by Federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre about supervised consumption sites have been addressed in the Yukon Legislative Assembly.
On Monday, MLA for Vuntut Gwitchin Annie Blake rose during question period to raise concerns about Poilievre’s campaign promise to close and block supervised consumption sites from being built within 500 metres of schools and playgrounds. Poilievre has also committed to remove all federal funding for prescribed alternative drug programs.
In her initial question to Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee, Blake said that the Yukon’s only supervised consumption site, Blood Ties Four Directions Centre, has successfully responded to 133 overdoses and provided support to 544 Yukoners without seeing a single death on site since it opened in September 2021.
Blake said that Poilievre’s plans would be a huge blow to the territory.
“Closing the site would result in deaths,” said Blake on Monday. “The Yukon has already seen far too much lost to the overdose crisis, and losing this site would be devastating. What is this government doing to ensure that the Yukon does not lose its only supervised consumption site?”
In response, Minister McPhee did voice the Government of Yukon’s support for Blood Ties, but stopped short of sharing specific plans to advocate for the site to remain open.
“This government supports the supervised consumption site,” said McPhee. “It opened a supervised consumption site. It funds a supervised consumption site. We believe it to be an integral part of the harm reduction approach that we have taken, a part of the Substance Use Health Emergency Strategy, and at no time do we have interest or intention – unlike the Conservative Party of Canada – of closing such a service, such a program, and such [an] opportunity to support Yukoners.”
The Yukon Coroner’s Office confirmed to CHON-FM that since April 2016, 136 Yukoners have died due to toxic substances. 117 of those deaths involved opioids, and 105 involved fentanyl.
Since January, the Coroner’s Office confirmed five deaths; all of which involved opioids and four of which involved fentanyl.
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