Judge grants injunction restoring 24-hour access at Red Deer overdose prevention site

January 13, 2025 Canuck

An Alberta judge has ordered the province to restore full-time operations at Red Deer’s only overdose prevention site, less than two weeks after its hours were cut in half.

Red Deer Court of King’s Bench Justice Gillian Marriott granted an interim injunction Monday that reverses the reduction of OPS hours ahead of the site’s planned closure at the end of March.

A lawyer for Recovery Alberta, the branch of Alberta’s health system responsible for mental health and addictions services, said during the court hearing that it will likely take about three days to restore 24-hour service.

In early January, the site moved from 24/7 service to being open only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

At the same time, teams of paramedics and nurses began overnight patrols around the OPS to respond to potential overdoses.

Monday’s court decision comes after lawyer Avnish Nanda filed a lawsuit on behalf of a man with opioid use disorder named Aaron Brown.

Brown argues that closing the OPS is a violation of his Charter rights, as well as the rights of other site users who will be left at an increased risk of a fatal overdose.

“[The decision] is a real recognition that what the government is trying to do here could imperil my client’s life and the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of other vulnerable central Albertans,” Nanda said in an interview.

The interim injunction is in place until another court hearing in mid-March where Nanda will seek an injunction to stop the OPS from being shut down.

The Alberta government announced in September that it would shutter the site and replace it with other recovery services after a request from Red Deer city council.

More to come.

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