The New Westminster Homelessness Coalition is calling for compassion and commonsense when it comes to addressing services for substance users.
As part of its ongoing work on the crises response pilot project, New West city council recently voted 5-2 vote in support of a five-year prevention, support and transition services plan and a 10-year supportive housing and wraparound services plan. Council also directed staff to work with resident, business and community groups to advocate for the actions as recommended in the 2025 crises response roadmap, which includes advocating for the incorporation of indoor inhalation services into the existing overdose prevention site in the downtown.
“An inhalation site is absolutely essential to keeping people alive so that they can access other forms of substance use treatment and care,” said Jack York, board chair of the New Westminster Homelessness Coalition society. “Currently, the vast majority of overdose deaths are taking place with people who are inhaling drugs, not ingesting drugs. So, the timeliness of this proposal is really key.”
York, speaking as a delegate at council’s Feb. 24 meeting, said inhalation sites that already exist in other jurisdictions are safe and are effective in saving people's lives. He said some people may question why individuals don’t just make their way to those sites.
“The truth is that doesn't actually reflect the realities of substance-use behavior, and no one is going to be getting on a train to travel to other jurisdictions to use,” he said. “Like so many other health services, they need to be located in the same community where people are living and where people actually need the service. And that is why it is essential that we provide it here in New Westminster.”
York, who conducts research and teaches at the university level on this issue, said the thousands of lives are being lost to the public health emergency. (The BC Coroners Service reports that at least 16,047 people in B.C. have died of unregulated drug toxicity since the province declared a public health emergency in April 2016.)
“I don't think that would come as a surprise to anyone. But I think what surprises me is the … differences in how we discuss other public health issues versus this particular one,” he said. “I think if there were any other public health issue costing so many thousands of lives a year, we would be acting with far more urgency and mobilizing more resources than we are.”
York told council an indoor inhalation service would benefit substance users and the community as a whole. He said it would be an improvement over the status quo.
“With the status quo, unfortunately, what we have is people have nowhere to use safely. So, instead, they use in public places, in front of businesses. And this is neither good for them and their safety, substance users that is, nor for the community at large.”
Added York: “From just purely a commonsense standpoint, it just makes no sense to oppose an initiative like this one.”
The City of New Westminster’s two-year crises response pilot project is proposing a number of initiatives aimed at addressing the three crises of homelessness, addiction and mental health. As part of that project, the city will advocate to the Ministry of Health and the Fraser Health Authority that an indoor inhalation space be considered within the existing health contact centre in downtown New West, which already provides a variety of services, including witnessed consumption and drug checking.
A recent report from the BC Coroners Service stated smoking was the most common mode of consumption (67 per cent) of people who died of unregulated drugs in 2024.
Opponents have expressed concern about adding additional services to the downtown neighbourhood. They have also cited the need for a focus on increasing recovery services rather than harm-reduction services.
York said a false dichotomy has been created around resources like the indoor inhalation space, as though that is the only resource being sought.
“Harm-reduction services, overdose prevention sites are an essential first step that keeps people alive and then connects them to other resources, other services – life-saving services,” he said. “I have had the privilege of seeing how overdose prevention sites like this one have saved my clients’ lives, has enabled them to actually access other treatment and then subsequently find a quality of life that they've never had before. But that takes time, and someone who dies of an overdose doesn't have that time.”
York said services like an indoor inhalation centre are “essential”, as are many of the other services that New West is advocating for in the pilot project. He said the city needs a resource centre to open as quickly as possible so people who are unhoused have a place to go to during the day when nightly shelters are closed.
“Again, a commonsense measure that is beneficial for the whole community, not just for substance users and those who are unhoused,” he said. “So, I really implore that people see reason when it comes to these issues, that people come from a place of compassion, that people come from a place of science and research that shows the efficacy of these sort of interventions, and that this council not only support initiatives like this one, but act with urgency.”
