By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

case returns to court june 26

Appeal against ruling on temporary Red Deer OPS injunction dismissed

Apr 28, 2025 | 2:44 PM

Three judges with the Alberta Court of Appeal have upheld another judge’s March 2025 decision against a temporary injunction application to keep the doors open at Red Deer’s overdose prevention site (OPS).

The appeal was heard April 16 in Calgary, a little over two weeks after the OPS shut down; it had been operating since October 2018.

The appeal came after Justice Chris Rickards heard arguments March 14 from lawyer Avnish Nanda, representing Red Deer man and OPS user Aaron Brown, who’s been fighting to keep the OPS open.

Its closure came as a result of the province ceasing to provide grant money to Recovery Alberta necessary to continue operation of the OPS. And that, the government has said, was at the request of Red Deer city council, which passed a resolution on the matter last year.

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READ MORE: Judge denies injunction against closure of Red Deer’s overdose prevention site

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Because the initial injunction application was only for a temporary time period, 15 weeks in this instance, the case will be back before the courts on June 26. At that time, arguments will be made for a permanent injunction.

All of this, as rdnewsNOW has reported, is being done on Constitutional grounds, with Brown, via Nanda, arguing the OPS’ closure violates sections 7, 12 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights.

“The appellant provided evidence showing that supervised consumption sites like Red Deer OPS ameliorate the risk of serious bodily harm and death associated with illegal drug use and substance use disorders,” Justices Ritu Khullar, April Grosse, and Alice Wooley write in their official decision.

“But effectively managing the harms associated with substance use disorder and drug toxicity is complex and multi-faceted, and Alberta has indicated that it wants to take a different approach in Red Deer, focusing on recovery from substance use disorders and offering harm reduction services in a different way. Its revised approach may prove to be more or less effective than previous approaches, but in adopting it Alberta is entitled to the legal presumption that it is acting in the public interest.”

The justices note that the Alberta government has committed $3.4 million to provide:

• A Mobile Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinic operated by Recovery Alberta, located in the homeless shelter parking lot. This will offer screening, diagnosis and referral to services; access to the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program; and education, naloxone kits and needle exchange.

• A Dynamic Overdose Response Team of paramedics and licensed practical nurses to monitor a designated area of the Safe Harbour shelter facility, as well as the surrounding block.

• Recovery coaches in and around the homeless shelter to provide outreach services and help guide individuals along the path of recovery.

• Enhancements to medically supported detox capacity in partnership with Safe Harbour that will help more people safely withdraw from substances so they can continue their pursuit of recovery.

Further, they note, the government has provided more than $1.2 million over the next two years to the Red Deer Dream Centre to support 20 additional publicly-funded addiction treatment beds.