City council takes no official decision on whether to close supervised consumption site [Video]

A decision about whether to close the Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) in Calgary’s Beltline is back in the hands of the Alberta government.

Council voted to replace a motion to advocate the province for the site’s closure with another motion to have the mayor write to the province to ask them to make an informed decision about the future of the site. The latter motion was then defeated in a 5-9 vote against.

The decision, which came after about an hour of debate, essentially means city council is taking no official position on whether to close the SCS in the Beltline.

“We care about saving lives, we care about the community. All of those things matter to us. This is not our jurisdiction,” said Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

“If (the province) feels that their processes can be better, that they can do this differently — they can have wraparound supports, detox …