By Justine Kelsie

Grande Prairie drug culture is shifting: Saint Lawrence Centre

Oct 23, 2018 | 5:01 AM

With growing demand and increase in use, the Saint Lawrence Centre is hoping to lobby the provincial government for ongoing support for daytime homeless shelters with help from the City of Grande Prairie.

Project Lead with the centre Jared Gossen says there has recently been an unprecedented number of people showing up for their programming.  

“The first year of opening we averaged just over 30 visits per day. As of our first day of winter operations (this year), we had 82 people come through the doors,” he says.

The centre considers winter operations as October 1 to the end of March where they offer a place to keep warm and activities. The first year of opening in 2015/2016 the program operated out of the Salvation Army Community Service building, the same year Gossen witnessed his first overdose. The program has since moved over to a space in the Rotary House. According to Gossen, in just over a year span, the centre has responded to 44 overdoses where Naloxone or Narcan has been administered.

“Drug culture is shifting in Grande Prairie, very seriously. Where (before) we might have seen a bit of presence of opiates and meth, sometimes your traditional drugs. It is (now) an overwhelming amount for heroin and methamphetamines in a number of people that come to drop-in now,” he says.

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“You’d have to be living under a rock to miss the impact of the opioid epidemic on our communities. That is absolutely a daily reality for us.”

There has been an increase of 18 to 24-year-olds and couples accessing the services the centre provides. Gossen commends the work that outreach workers are doing for those people at places like HIV North and Rotary House.

Gossen adds the city has done what they can to support initiatives and it is time to turn to the province. The hope is drum up some support for day shelter services.

“As we move this advocacy forward, it doesn’t have to be about giving the Saint Lawrence Centre money. It has to be about providing these services for the community,” he says.

“It is just about making sure people are taken care of.”

^{*Editor’s note: an earlier version of this said the centre was located in the Church of Christ in 2015/2016.}