Editorial: Safe injection site worth exploring

Saskatchewan needs to act on the federal government’s easing of restrictions for supervised safe injection sites.

The province does not yet have a safe injection site, although the Saskatoon Tribal Council stated last year that it wanted to explore the idea.

The province continues to be cold to the idea. Health Minister Jim Reiter reiterated former minister Dustin Duncan’s belief that the province is not considering safe injection sites.

In a province with an HIV infection rate that has led Canada since 2010 and where intravenous drug use is described as an “epidemic” in centres such as Saskatoon, Regina, and Prince Albert, it’s time to heed the sensible call by Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) Chief Felix Thomas to investigate the value of establishing a safe injection site.

“We are not enabling (drug use). We are saying if they are going to do it, they are doing it in a place that is safe,” Thomas told StarPhoenix reporter Charles Hamilton.

“… The science behind this is what we are really looking at. It’s not cultural or spiritual or religious. It’s what’s the best thing for society.”

The old Conservative law includes onerous, redundant and costly requirements, along with a dozen conditions that include seeking consent from a broad range of interest groups, any one of which could be used as an excuse to deny establishing a new site or renewing Insite’s license.

Scroll to Top

During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below