(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

preventative measures in place

Spending at Red Deer’s overdose prevention site watched closely: Turning Point

Jul 16, 2020 | 4:48 PM

The agency that operates the temporary Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) in Red Deer says there are measures in place to prevent inappropriate spending like what’s alleged to have occurred in Lethbridge.

Stacey Carmichael With Turning Point tells rdnewsNOW that they are audited every fall by RSM Canada.

Carmichael says they have contracts and policies that ensure financial controls are in place. She adds that financial statements are available for viewing on the federal government’s website.

“In addition we also report directly to our funders as per the contract, sometimes quarterly, sometimes semi-annually. There are a lot of checks and balances.”

Turning Point is currently receiving just over $1.3 million from the provincial government to operate the city’s OPS from March to September 2020.

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Thursday morning, the provincial government announced it was immediately halting all funding to ARCHES, which runs the Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) in Lethbridge. The province cited an an external audit done that found $1.6 million of public money was unaccounted for.

“It’s a risk any charity might have and it’s up to them to have the things in place to prevent that from happening to them,” says Carmichael. “I don’t have any concerns about Turning Point’s integrity.”

She added, “In no way do I want to say that ARCHES has done anything wrong. I support the work they do and the people they support.”

The province said in a release that that ARCHES used government funding for travel to Portugal, unauthorized overtime pay, and to buy thousands of dollars worth of gift cards. It also claims ARCHES went beyond a contractually agreed upon limit on employees. Carmichael says she isn’t aware of Red Deer’s OPS having any restrictions on FTEs.

Between October 2017 and March 2020, ARCHES received $14.5 million.

Red Deer’s 24/7 OPS was originally meant to be a stepping stone towards a full supervised consumption services site, but that plan remains on pause after the province announced last year it would be conducting a thorough review of the practice.

Turning Point is currently operating on an extension until the end of September so the province can complete its review.

RELATED: Province pulling funding from Lethbridge’s supervised consumption site