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Alberta Sets June 30 Closure for Calgary Chumir Supervised Consumption Site, Lethbridge Mobile Unit

Funding shifts to treatment, detox plus 24/7 outreach as the province advances a recovery‑first model citing a disputed Red Deer study.

The future of the supervised consumption site at the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre, the only facility of its kind in Calgary, will be up for debate by city council as they discuss a motion to call on the province to close the site.
People wait to enter the Safeworks supervised drug-use site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in Calgary in 2021.
Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Rick Wilson takes part in the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) spring convention, in Edmonton on March 18, 2026.
A man huddles in a corner to smoke drugs outside of the drug site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in Calgary on December 12, 2025.

Overview

  • The Sheldon M. Chumir supervised consumption site in Calgary and a mobile unit at the Lethbridge Shelter will close on June 30, 2026, the government announced Friday.
  • Resources will be redirected to Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinics, enhanced opioid dependency services, more withdrawal management beds (Calgary increasing to 40; Lethbridge adding 10), and round‑the‑clock Outreach Recovery Response Teams.
  • Ministers said supervised consumption sites in Edmonton (two) and Grande Prairie will remain open for now, with no current plans to close them.
  • Officials pointed to a Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence study on Red Deer’s 2025 shutdown that reported no short‑term increases in deaths, ER visits or ambulance calls among former site users.
  • Academics and advocates called the study limited and inconclusive and warned closures could push drug use into public spaces and heighten overdose risk, while an appeal over the Red Deer closure continues.