‘We heard a scream': encampment ODs highlight city's drug, homeless crisis
Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, was showing her team a different part of the city — well known for its multiple encampments along the Assiniboine River — when the situation took a sudden turn.
'It was only by chance we ended up behind the Granite Curling Club, talking to some people who had small encampments there, when we heard a scream,' she said.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
The Wednesday afternoon incident in a riverbank encampment near the Granite Curling Club highlights the city's drug and homelessness crisis, Marion Willis said.
The cry led them to a tent, where they found two youths who she said had overdosed on fentanyl.
'It took a considerable amount of naloxone and chest compressions to get them breathing again and keep them breathing until paramedics arrived,' Willis said.
Emergency crews, including a fire engine and two ambulances, rushed to the scene. While the city declined to provide details due to privacy rules, photos and videos reviewed by the Free Press showed several responders treating the victims.
Winnipeg police said they were called around 3:45 p.m. to help paramedics transport a male and a female to hospital, confirming both were youths. Willis said one of the youths became uncooperative after regaining consciousness and tried to flee.
'These were two kids,' Willis said. 'At the peak of it all, there were about 11 medical personnel there, two cruiser cars, and my team there. It was a baptism by fire for our team.'
The incident highlights the city's drug and homelessness crisis, Willis said. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced the Your Way Home strategy in January, which aims to end chronic homelessness by 2031.
Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, the lead on Manitoba's homelessness strategy, said Thursday the province is still on track to move 700 people out of encampments and into housing, despite sheltering only 45 people five months on.
Blaikie Whitecloud said housing units are in the process of being built and blamed the former Progressive Conservative government for taking away affordable housing.
She said more homes will be coming this month and over the summer, pointing to a May news release from the province that said 67 new housing units spread across three locations had been purchased for $6.4 million and will be filled with tenants in the coming months.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Tents are seen along the riverbank in the area behind the Granite Curling Club Thursday.
Blaikie Whitecloud said the province expects to get a clearer picture of how many people want housing once application data comes in next week.
'It takes a lot of time to build units… we're working as quickly as we can,' she said. 'We know the growth is going to get faster… as well, we are going to have people graduating into permanent, secure housing, reconnecting with family, and that's going to create units available for what we've already brought online.'
Of the 45 people currently housed through the province, 41 came through Main Street Project, which runs multiple facilities beyond its downtown shelter.
Blaikie Whitecloud said outreach work is being done to ensure people in encampments are as comfortable and as safe as they can be while they await approval through the application process.
'It's the first time in the years I've been in this sector that people are having a conversation about housing being a reality for them,' said the former Siloam Mission chief executive officer. 'So there's hope.'
The provincial strategy offers low-barrier housing so that people living with addictions can still be housed and receive treatment and supports.
Willis and Street Links workers dismantled the encampment where the two youths who overdosed had been living. With no garbage trucks available, some debris had to be left behind overnight. When they returned Thursday morning, the camp had already been rebuilt.
A woman who put the encampment back up was offered housing by Street Links, and by Thursday afternoon, she had moved into transitional housing. A portion of the cleanup was recorded and shared on Willis's Facebook page.
'She cried tears of joy,' Willis said of the woman after she made the housing offer.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Marion Willis, executive director of St. Boniface Street Links, said she and her team witnessed two youths overdosing in an encampment.
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By Thursday afternoon, garbage still littered the area, and a city worker could be seen collecting discarded needles.
Willis believes Winnipeg's fentanyl crisis drives its homelessness problem — and that neither issue can be solved in isolation.
Al Wiebe, who has lived through homelessness and now advocates for others, called the issue multi-pronged.
'It's always more than one issue,' he said. 'Mental illness, as well, plays a big role. Many have lost housing with rising housing and food costs. Addictions are a big part of it. I feel we should get the harm reduction set up 100 per cent correctly, or don't do it until all the elements are in place.'
scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca
Scott BilleckReporter
Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott.
Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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