ManitobaA member of the Canadian Senate with decades of experience advocating for the rights of marginalized and institutionalized persons says the Manitoba government has created more problems with its new 72-hour detox facility by essentially “building a jail” — a move that could leave vulnerable people “traumatized.”‘We’re likely to see Charter challenges,’ says Sen. Kim PateNathan Liewicki · CBC News · Posted: Nov 30, 2025 10:06 AM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Sen. Kim Pate, a member of the Canadian Senate, says the new detox facility in Winnipeg is an ‘ill-conceived’ response to tackling greater societal issues. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)A member of the Canadian Senate with decades of experience advocating for the rights of marginalized and institutionalized persons says the Manitoba government has created more problems with its new 72-hour detox facility by essentially “building a jail” — a move that could leave vulnerable people “traumatized.””I think what we see here is creating more problems,” Sen. Kim Pate told CBC News outside the Winnipeg facility on Saturday afternoon. “We’re likely to see Charter challenges to the placement of people for health reasons in a jail, or jail setting. We’re likely to see more people get traumatized.”Pate, who says she works in the territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation that encompasses parts of Ontario and Quebec, was invited by Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan to check out the facility. Pate wanted to tour the facility but was not permitted inside.The 20-room detention facility, located at 190 Disraeli Fwy., is slated to open by the end of the month. But when asked to confirm its opening Friday, Premier Wab Kinew said that “we might ask for your help in stretching the definition of the end of the month to early next week.”The facility’s opening follows the passing of Bill 48 — the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act — inside the Manitoba Legislature on Nov. 5.The bill extends how long someone who is highly intoxicated by methamphetamines or other long-lasting substances can be detained, raising the limit from 24 hours to up to 72 hours.Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said the 20-room detention facility at 190 Disraeli Fwy. will likely open next week. (Jenny Kane/The Associated Press)Pate believes that the provincial government’s intentions surrounding the facility are good, but that it’s an “ill-conceived” response to tackling greater societal issues.”The idea of providing more housing, more places for people to detox, particularly given the overdose and opioid crises, is a great objective. But it seems like [the province has] now created more problems by actually building — through the mental health system, or through the health system — building a jail,” she said.”Those units and those cells look like isolation cells because they are isolation cells.”Despite being unable to enter the building Saturday, Pate has heard from community members who believe something dangerous could happen because the proper supports are not in place for those with addictions.”Everybody I’ve talked to is very fearful that we will see someone seriously harmed or dead before too long as a result of this kind of approach,” she said.Dr. Michael Krausz, the leadership chair for addictions research at the University of British Columbia, would like to have seen a pilot project take place before the facility’s doors open to figure out how people under the influence of various substances would respond to the efforts of up to 72 hours of detention.He believes holding an intoxicated person is only part of an intervention — not a solution. He questions what will be offered to people who will go through withdrawal, which takes hours — not days— to set in.”If you keep them too long and detain them, and not offering them proper withdrawal support and management, then it’s torture for them. Then it is an experience they will always avoid in the future. This is not what you want,” Krausz said from Vancouver.”You want to engage them with the system of care and kind of find alternatives for them and with them.”He believes long-term treatment plans for the purpose of having people reintegrate into society need to be in place.Krausz says a clinical pathway that makes sense is needed, complete with robust and appropriate staffing.”If the complications … ramp up and the public is getting aware of it, and the patients are complaining or whatever, you will quickly forget this lonely approach of the sobering centre, and think what clinical pathway could be implemented which is more effective in the long run,” he said.Pate believes the site would be better utilized and provide better assistance to those stricken with addictions by allowing community stakeholders, such as the Bear Clan Patrol, to have more hands-on involvement.WATCH | See inside Winnipeg’s 72-hour detox facility:First look at Winnipeg’s new detox centreThe Manitoba government gave media a tour Monday of its new 20-bed detox centre for highly intoxicated people, located at 190 Disraeli Fwy., before it opens the facility’s doors later this month. She also worries about staffing levels once the facility opens.”The fact that we’re seeing this kind of model being started when I talked to people — medical mental health professionals and medical professionals in this community — and they don’t even know how it’s going to be staffed when they’re understaffed [themselves],” Pate said.Dr. Rob Grierson, the medical director for the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service, says three paramedics will staff the new facility, and the approach does include aftercare, access to addictions care and access to mental health professionals either onsite or nearby.He adds those held will be checked daily by psychiatrists and addictions physicians and connected to mental health services.Earlier this month, Kinew said the new facility will help divert people under the influence of long-lasting drugs like methamphetamine from causing problems in emergency waiting rooms, buses and in the community.He made the comments shortly after police were stationed at HSC following assaults on a nurse and health-care aide in the emergency room. Several assaults on Winnipeg hospital staff in recent weeks have raised concerns about violence and safety at hospitals across the city.Kinew said the detention centre will work with police and Health Sciences Centre staff to divert people to the facility. CorrectionsA previous version of this article referred to Pate as being from the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation. In fact, she told CBC that she works in the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation. Nov 30, 2025 11:07 AM ESTABOUT THE AUTHORNathan Liewicki is an online reporter at CBC Manitoba. He was previously nominated for a national RTDNA Award in digital sports reporting. He worked at several newspapers in sports, including the Brandon Sun, the Regina Leader-Post and the Edmonton Journal.With files from Gavin Axelrod, Karen Pauls and Ian Froese
Ontario senator says Winnipeg detox facility could leave vulnerable people ‘traumatized’
