Voice your support for a Supervised Consumption Site
It’s been two years since the election that swept the NDP to power in our province. One of their election promises was to open a bricks-and-mortar supervised consumption site (SCS) quickly.
Last week, the government announced plans to create the promised site at 366 Henry St.
We need your help now to keep the pressure on. Remind our government that the people who elected them expect them to keep their life-saving promise!
If you’re a resident of Manitoba, we urge you to call and/or email your MLA and use the scripts provided below to tell them that the creation of a bricks-and-mortar SCS is way past due.
Visit this link to find your MLA and their contact information:
https://www.electionsmanitoba.ca/en/voting/MyVotingInfo
In solidarity,
SaferSites Coalition
Script for calling your MLA:
Hi, my name is _______________ and I am your constituent, living at _____________.
I am calling to voice my full support for opening Manitoba’s first brick-and-mortar supervised consumption site. I support supervised consumption because it saves lives. Manitobans have been promised a permanent SCS by the NDP numerous times, most recently in this year’s throne speech on November 20th. I’m asking you to hold them to this promise.
Manitobans like me want to live in safer and healthier communities, and we know that supervised consumption sites are a key tool in making this goal a reality. We can’t afford more delays or half measures. We need more harm reduction in Manitoba, including bricks-and-mortar supervised consumption sites with wrap-around services.
Script for emailing your MLA:
To the Honourable [your MLA here],
I am a constituent of yours who supports harm reduction and supervised consumption. I live at [your address here] and my voice matters.
I am writing to express my full support for opening Manitoba’s first brick-and-mortar supervised consumption site. I support supervised consumption because it saves lives. Manitobans have been promised a permanent SCS by the NDP numerous times, most recently in this year's Throne Speech on November 20th.
It’s time to keep this promise. Not just with a temporary urgent needs site, as is being proposed for January, but with a permanent supervised consumption site with wrap-around services.
Supervised consumption sites save lives and make communities around them safer. Harm reduction is health care, and supervised consumption sites reduce risks for people who use drugs while also reducing the overall strain on the health care system. As a concerned Manitoban and your constituent, I urge you to stand by the principles of harm reduction and the evidence-based commitment to supervised consumption sites as a province-wide strategy to address the drug toxicity and STBBI crises gripping our province.
We can’t afford more delays or half measures. Manitoba needs a comprehensive harm reduction strategy. It’s time for the government to keep their promises to Manitobans and deliver on establishing Manitoba’s first permanent SCS – the first Indigenous-led site in all of Canada. Keep your promises, and by doing so, keep all Manitobans safer.
