Kelowna mayor asks Health Canada to deny 2027 supervised consumption site renewal

Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas is asking Health Canada not to renew the federal authorization for the city’s downtown supervised consumption site when its current exemption expires Dec. 31.

Photo credit: City of Kelowna

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Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas is asking Health Canada not to renew the federal authorization for the city’s downtown supervised consumption site after its current exemption expires at the end of the year.

The supervised consumption service operates at Interior Health’s Outreach Urban Health Centre at 1649 Pandosy St. Health Canada lists the site as operating under a Section 56.1 exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, with its current authorization expiring Dec. 31, 2026.

Dyas said this week that he was making the request on behalf of Kelowna city council.

In support of the request, Dyas cited 3,466 RCMP calls for service related to the site or its immediate surroundings since Outreach Urban Health moved to Pandosy Street in March 2021.

He also cited 371 medical incidents, 24 outdoor fires and 420 bylaw calls beyond routine interventions during that period.

The figures are those provided by Dyas. His public statement does not define the geographic area covered by “immediate surroundings,” and the numbers should not be interpreted as 3,466 police calls occurring inside the supervised consumption site itself.

The latest request follows earlier calls from Dyas for changes to operations at Outreach Urban Health.

In a Feb. 2 update published by the City of Kelowna, Dyas said the centre’s location and proximity to other services were creating public-safety concerns for nearby businesses, employees and residents.

He also acknowledged that the city does not have jurisdiction over the health service and said municipal officials were working with Interior Health on possible changes.

Health Canada currently authorizes supervised inhalation, injection, intranasal and oral consumption at the Kelowna site, along with drug checking and peer assistance.

Supervised consumption sites require an exemption from federal drug laws to operate for medical purposes. Health Canada requires renewal applicants to provide updated information on areas including community engagement, funding, public-health impacts and changes to site operations.

On Health Canada’s public application-status page dated Aug. 11, Kelowna was not listed among supervised consumption sites with an open renewal application.

Outreach Urban Health also provides primary care, harm-reduction services and assertive community treatment for people experiencing mental-health and substance-use issues.

Interior Health also operates a Downtown Overdose Prevention Site in the parking lot behind Outreach Urban Health.

The overdose-prevention site is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and offers monitored consumption, overdose response, harm-reduction supplies, health care and referrals to treatment.

Health Canada maintains a separate federal framework for overdose-prevention sites, also known as urgent public health need sites. Provinces and territories can establish those services under a class exemption from federal drug laws.

Interior Health has not publicly established what effect, if any, a decision on the supervised consumption site’s Section 56.1 exemption would have on the separate overdose-prevention service operating at the location.

The dispute comes as B.C. continues to record deaths from the unregulated drug supply.

The BC Coroners Service reported Aug. 25 that 138 people died from suspected unregulated drug toxicity in June, an average of about 4.6 deaths per day. Eighty-one per cent of deaths recorded during the first half of 2026 occurred indoors.

Health Canada says supervised consumption services are intended to reduce the risk of accidental overdose and connect people with health, social and substance-use treatment services.

The existing federal authorization for Outreach Urban Health remains in effect through Dec. 31.

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