Parents worried about new supervised drug-use site near Montreal elementary school

Worried parents say they were blindsided by a decision to open Montreal's first supervised drug-inhalation facility less than 100 metres from their children's school.

Worried parents say they were blindsided by a decision to open Montreal's first supervised drug-inhalation facility less than 100 metres from their children's school.

The building is nearing completion in the St-Henri neighbourhood, only steps from Victor-Rousselot elementary, which counts 300 students from preschool through Grade 6.

That's too close for comfort for Sylvain Boitiere, a father of two children, ages four and six, who attend Victor-Rousselot. He said news that the new building would include supervised drug consumption came as a shock.

"It took an unexpected, unwanted turn," he said.

"We pay close attention to the children's safety," he added. "With this centre, we don't know everything that's going to happen."

The project is an initiative of Maison Benoit Labre, a local non-profit that runs a day centre for people experiencing homelessness. The new, four-storey building on Atwater Avenue will have 36 studio apartments for unhoused people with mental health or addiction issues.

The ground floor will include what the organization calls an overdose prevention centre, where clientswill be able to bring their own substances to use in the presence of trained personnel. It will be the first supervised drug-use site in Montreal able to accommodate drug inhalation in addition to other methods of consumption, such as injection, according to the city's public health authority.