Ensemble Moncton is currently the only safe injection site in New Brunswick.
Premier Blaine Higgs says if re-elected, there won’t be any others. He stated his government will not approve any more supervised injection sites .
Higgs added that they would also launch consultations with local governments and community members about existing sites “and what impact they are having in their communities.”
Executive Director Debby Warren says that’s discouraging, “I know the other frontline services are working hard to support the individuals, but they’re also struggling with this opioid crisis that we’re in, and their mandates are to provide housing and other types of services. We all complement each other. We shouldn’t have to see people sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, and using drugs on the street. Nobody wants to see that.”
Warren says in 12 months, around 500 people will access the services at Ensemble Moncton.
“It is an anonymous service. We provide harm reduction supplies so that people don’t become infected with HIV, hepatitis C and bacterial infections. That’s number one because people don’t want to be sick. We have a nurse practitioner who is there full-time in the day. We also have a social worker who’s there a couple of times a week, and she’s there to help them with counselling and support that she would provide as that professional. We have a case manager so that individual will help them lots of times they don’t have identification or the paperwork to get them to be able to access services, and then we have the overdose prevention site,” Warren says.
One thing she wants to make clear though, is the centre does not give the clients drugs.
“A lot of people think we do. We do not give drugs out. People bring their substances with them, and they use them under the supervision of trained emergency responders. It’s an opportunity with the staff to work with them and refer them to the nurse, the social worker or the case manager. Nobody has died at our facility as a result of those situations, and so it’s a place for them to use safely.”
One of the things that makes Warren very sad, is anyone who thinks these people should just be allowed to die on our streets.
“We see beyond the substance. We see individuals who have hopes and dreams like you and I. I had a young girl who was speaking to one of my staff, and she asked if someone from Ensemble would just talk to her mother and explain the complexities of this disorder because she wouldn’t listen to her,” Warren says.
Warren adds that addiction disorder does not discriminate, “People that come to our place come from good families, whatever a good family is. They come from all walks of life, and you never know when it can affect your family. And I’m sure most people must know someone who struggles.”
