Winnipeg Police Service Enforcement Near Access Centre Raises Serious Public Health Concerns

June 26, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 26, 2026

Winnipeg, MB - Over the past 24 hours, unsheltered Winnipeggers and outreach organizations have reported a significantly increased police presence in the downtown area, particularly along Main Street outside the Access Centre. Outreach workers report witnessing Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) officers detaining people experiencing homelessness and confiscating harm reduction supplies. Some outreach workers have also reported that these supplies were destroyed. Service organization staff engaging with the WPS have been advised to expect heightened police presence in the area in the coming days.

This heightened enforcement comes just days after a local outreach worker publicly reported being racially profiled and wrongfully detained while carrying out their work in the community. These reports raise urgent concerns about the impacts of enforcement on public health, access to care, and community safety.

Community organizations are concerned that this increased enforcement appears to have been implemented without consultation with frontline service providers, Indigenous organizations, public health partners, or people with lived and living experience. Collaborative planning is essential to advancing both public safety and public health.

Community organizations are also questioning whether dedicating significant police resources to this initiative represents the best use of limited public resources. At a time when Winnipeg continues to face concerns about 911 response times and demands for police attendance at serious incidents, greater investment in community-based outreach, housing, and health services may better support long-term public safety.

Manitoba is currently responding to an HIV public health emergency. Harm reduction supplies and access to health care are critical to that response. Enforcement actions involving people accessing or carrying safer-use supplies may unintentionally undermine evidence-based public health efforts, increase stigma, and contribute to higher rates of HIV transmission and other preventable harms.

Families of people lost to the toxic drug crisis continue to call for the declaration of a public health emergency in response to rising drug poisoning deaths. As communities work together to reduce drug poisoning deaths, enforcement practices that limit access to safer-use supplies or create barriers to health and social services may increase the risk of injury and death.

These events also raise concerns about equitable access to health care. People seeking health services and basic necessities in the area affected by the increased police presence are overwhelmingly living with economic insecurity, and many are Indigenous, Black, or other racialized community members. The impacts of systemic racism in Manitoba's health-care system are well documented. Discouraging people from accessing care risks undermining efforts to build trust, improve safety, and reduce barriers to health services.

As Winnipeg continues to face a highly toxic illicit drug supply during Manitoba's HIV public health emergency, confiscating harm reduction supplies and detaining people near the places they access supports may force them into more isolated locations where outreach workers, health-care providers, and emergency responders are less able to reach them. This increases the risk of drug poisonings, delayed medical care, and other preventable health emergencies.

People who are unsheltered cannot retreat to a private home to use substances more safely. Housing is a fundamental human right, yet many Winnipeggers must navigate substance use and other health needs in public because they have nowhere else to go. While enforcement has an important role in responding to immediate public safety concerns, lasting improvements depend on investments in housing, health care, and supportive services that address the underlying causes of homelessness.

These enforcement efforts also highlight the opportunity cost of current spending priorities. Community organizations providing outreach, harm reduction, and other frontline supports have experienced funding reductions in recent years, including municipal funding cuts to outreach initiatives. Strengthening investments in community-based services that prevent crises and connect people to housing and health care would address the root causes of homelessness and substance use while supporting safer communities.

People living unsheltered and people who use substances deserve dignity, safety, and care. We continue to advocate for:

• Access to safer consumption sites
• Access to safe drop-in spaces
• Access to evidence-based harm reduction supports and supplies
• Access to safe, stable, deeply affordable housing, recognizing housing as a fundamental human right
• Prioritizing a culturally responsive mental health and addictions community response
• Access to rent supports
• Robust mental health supports including traditional healing
• Timely access to detox and treatment services

We encourage the Winnipeg Police Service to work alongside public health officials, sector partners, community organizations, Indigenous leadership, and people with lived and living experience to ensure that access to health care, harm reduction services, and other essential supports remains the priority. This includes ensuring harm reduction supplies remain available and that people can seek care without unnecessary fear or barriers.

Meaningful improvements in community safety require sustained investments in housing, health care, harm reduction, and culturally responsive supports. By working together across sectors and investing in evidence-based approaches, we can build a safer and healthier Winnipeg for everyone.

Quotes

North End Women's Centre is deeply concerned that increased police enforcement around health and social services will discourage people from accessing life-saving supports. Public safety is strengthened - not weakened - when people can access health care, housing, and harm reduction services without fear."

- Cynthia Drebot, Executive Director

"Every day we work to build trust with people who have experienced trauma, discrimination, and barriers to care. Actions that create fear around accessing services can undo months or years of relationship-building and place people at greater risk of preventable harm."

- Kate Sjoberg, Resource Assistance for Youth

"People deserve to be treated with dignity when they seek help. Nobody should have to choose between accessing health care and worrying that they will be stopped, searched, or lose the supplies that help keep them alive."

- Lorie English, West Central Women's Resource Centre

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Media Contact:
Email: media@endhomelessnesswinnipeg.ca
Phone: 431-323-8896

 

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