Quebec Liberals want to ban supervised injection sites near schools, daycare centres

The Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) wants to ban supervised drug consumption sites within 150 metres of schools and daycare centres in Montreal, and within 250 metres elsewhere in Quebec.

Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy tabled Bill 892 on Wednesday in response to the controversy surrounding the Maison Benoit Labre, located near an elementary school in the Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough. 

Since the centre opened last April, local residents reported dozens of incidents involving theft, violence, crack cocaine use, nudity and public defecation.

“Many of you have written to ask us to legislate to ensure that supervised drug consumption centres are not set up in the vicinity of schools and daycare centres,” Rizqy wrote on X.

“I stood up in the National Assembly to question the Legault government on this issue a year ago. Last September, Premier François Legault finally admitted that children cannot be asked to live with intoxicated people.”

“The parliamentary session is drawing to a close. The PLQ is offering the bill to the government. You can even delete my name; the important thing is to legislate quickly,” she added.

Her bill would give organizations offering supervised drug use services two years to comply with the ban.

However, it is extremely rare for the government to decide to call an opposition bill.

On Wednesday, the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, said he was aware of the issues. He said he was working on his own bill, which he expects to table sometime in the spring of 2025.

“We're already working on it with the legal affairs department,” he told journalists. “I've already said that, yes, we want to reduce distances, but we also want to facilitate access to care for drug addicts.”

“We will study what she has presented to us, but we want something a little broader,” he added.

Ontario recently decided to ban supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and daycare centres.

In 2023, in Toronto, in neighbourhoods near these sites, assaults were 113 per cent higher and thefts 97 per cent higher than in the rest of the city, according to the Ontario government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Nov. 27, 2024.