The Yukon government opened its high-profile safe consumption site today.

The site is located at at a Yukon government building at 6189 Sixth Ave. near Cook Street.

It’s one of the feature projects demanded by the NDP in the Confidence and Supply Agreement it struck with the territorial Liberal Party in late April to allow the Liberals to continue to govern.

On Monday morning, Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee held a news conference that included a tour of the site, along with NDP MLA Emily Tredger.

Representatives from the Blood Ties Four Directions Centre, which is managing the site, and government employees were also on hand to answer questions.

The site is largely a response to the rising number of territorial residents losing their lives to overdoses in the opioid crisis.

“The COVID-19 exacerbated this crisis,” McPhee said. “We have lost 14 Yukoners to overdoses this year. Harm reduction saves lives. It’s simply that simple. I’m really proud to be here to tour this site.”

Tredger said, “We all want the same thing. A neighbourhood where everyone is safe, where everyone can thrive.

“Right now, this isn’t a reality. Right now, our friends, our family members, our neighbours are dying. We’ve lost 14 people just this year. We have the chance to do something about it through this site.

“When people get the services we need, they do better in their lives, and that’s what this safe consumption site will do.”

It’s the first site of its kind in any of the three territories, much less just the Yukon, reporters were told.

The concept is fairly simple. Clients of the site can bring their own recreational drugs to the facility, and use them there under the supervision of health professionals.

The idea is that the supervision will prevent overdose deaths, of which there have been 14 relating to opioid use so far in 2021.

The idea might be new to the North, said Bronte Renwick-Shields, Blood Ties’ executive director, but it’s a tried-and-true concept used further south.

Of the more than 30 such facilities in southern Canada, none has seen an overdose death during operations, she said.

Renwick-Shields was quick to explain the safe consumption site won’t necessarily prevent overdoses, per se. Rather, it will prevent overdose fatalities.

It’s an important distinction, she said, adding it’s easy to treat overdoses if the proper equipment is in the hands of someone with training.

Most overdose fatalities, she added, are because people don’t have the training or equipment to handle the situation. Often people are alone, and can’t get help.

The idea is for the site to help prevent and lower overdose fatalities, but it will take some time to build up a clientele, Renwick-Shields said.

Clients will also have an opportunity to access other services, such as addictions counselling and mental health, at the site.

The opening of the site was delayed by approximately a month for further renovations and to hire more staff.

Staffing is still an ongoing issue, Renwick-Shields said, but she hoped to have a full complement in the next few weeks.

“Staffing is difficult everywhere in the Yukon right now,” she said.

The site will be limited to two or three clients at a time for the moment, staff members said. That number will increase as staffing levels rise.

The site will be open from 10:30 a.m. until 7 p.m. to start with.

McPhee and Renwick-Shields mentioned the government is beginning work on a safe-supply system as well – although that is months away.

The system would provide recreational drugs that had been tested for safety to clients, likely through a team of doctors.

Further details on how the system would work are unknown.

Renwick-Shields said the supervised consumption site would not be a part of the supply system as it’s currently envisioned.