Can the city block the opening of a downtown harm reduction site?

A celebrated harm reduction and recovery advocate is rejecting an honour given to him by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim because the mayor is trying to prevent a new harm reduction location from opening.

Two years ago, Sim declared May 29 “Guy Felicella Day” to honour Felicella’s tireless advocacy work.

But now Felicella says the honour isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. He called the recognition “disingenuous” because Sim is obstructing vital harm reduction services.

Felicella said he made the decision to return the honour after speaking with his wife and young kids.

It’s important to teach them integrity, he said, even if they’re still too young to understand the weight of their father’s actions.

This all started on Tuesday, when Vancouver Coastal Health announced the new location of an overdose prevention site, or OPS, in the Vancouver City Centre area.

The new location will be at 900 Helmcken St., with a lease term beginning June 1. City Coun. Rebecca Bligh says the location will require some work and a development permit before it can open.

This is the third location of the Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site, which operated at 1101 Seymour St. before it was moved to 1060 Howe St., and closed again Jan. 31, 2026.

Health authorities have been ordered by the province to open overdose prevention sites wherever they’re needed.

The Vancouver City Centre area fits the bill. It has the second-highest rate of overdose deaths in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, with 94 fatalities last year, and the second-highest number of 911 calls in the VCH region, according to the health authority.

Just hours after VCH announced the new location, Sim introduced an “urgent motion” in city council directing City of Vancouver staff to “to take all lawful steps to prevent the opening of the proposed overdose prevention site.”

The motion passed late Tuesday evening, supported by Sim and six ABC Vancouver councillors and opposed by the four opposition councillors.

During Tuesday’s city council meeting, Sim said the new harm reduction site was the latest in a series of “previous, failed OPS sites.” Coun. Peter Meiszner called the OPS “another failed experiment.”

Which really got under the skin of Felicella, who told The Tyee that overdose prevention sites aren’t a failure.

“These sites have proven for decades to save lives and reduce harms,” Felicella said.

Felicella is a former drug user whose life was saved thanks to the quick work of staff at an overdose prevention site in 2013.

Today he is an advocate for harm reduction and recovery, supporting families dealing with addiction, and speaking to students about his story of recovery from addiction and homelessness.

Since 2021 the Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site has supported 149,603 visits and responded to 480 overdoses, according to VCH.

“It’s insulting to me and thousands of other people whose lives have been saved to say these sites have ‘failed,’” Felicella added.

“I get it, the public is sick and tired of people using drugs in public. But you can’t be sick of the solution that addresses that,” he said. “That area is riddled with overdoses and deaths.”

During Tuesday’s city council meeting, ABC councillors and the mayor spoke about their concerns that the province was focusing on harm reduction instead of treatment.

In a message posted to Facebook, Sim said the previous harm reduction sites “became focal points for street disorder and open drug use.”

The new harm reduction location appears to have taken this critique into consideration.

VCH says the new site on Helmcken includes supervised inhalation, supervised consumption and a lot of indoor space in order to encourage people to hang out inside, rather than on the sidewalk. This will also reduce public drug use, VCH said, because it gives people a place to go.

The Tyee sent a media request asking to speak with the mayor and Meiszner about their concerns.

Meiszner did not respond. Sim’s office sent an emailed statement that said, in part, that “the status quo has not been good enough” and “Vancouverites deserve a more comprehensive and accountable response to the addictions and mental health crises.”

The city will use “all lawful means available to it” to stop the opening of the site, the statement said.

Their goal is to ensure “any proposal moving forward includes meaningful consultation, a clear public safety plan, pathways to recovery and strong accountability measures,” the statement continued.

But this criticism is disingenuous, Coun. Sean Orr told The Tyee via email.

There’s been a community liaison table set up for a year, so the community has been consulted, and blocking the OPS from opening will increase public drug use because people who use drugs will have nowhere else to go, Orr said.

In response to Sim’s comment about “previous, failed OPS sites,” Orr said harm reduction can only be considered “failed” if “you don’t consider saving human lives a worthwhile goal or use of resources.”

“Fifty-one thousand, eight hundred and fifty-eight overdoses and not a single one was fatal, and the mayor calls this a disaster,” Orr added.

Orr said he believed Sim’s attempt to block the harm reduction site is influenced by the fact that there will be a municipal election later this year.

“The city has no business legally to even be in this conversation,” he said. “It’s an election year... and we’re campaigning on people’s lives. It’s heartbreaking.”

Felicella said he was frustrated to hear Meiszner say the province wasn’t investing in treatment and recovery beds in Vancouver because he has personally given Meiszner a tour of several treatment and recovery facilities in the city.

It’s also not clear if city council will be able to block Vancouver Coastal Health from opening the overdose prevention site.

First, it’s in opposition to the order from the province for “regional health boards and BC Emergency Health Services to implement overdose prevention in any place required,” Orr said.

Second, it’s setting the city up for a legal challenge because a 2011 court case ruled that other levels of government can’t block harm reduction facilities, said Coun. Pete Fry.

“It’s not our job to use any tools necessary to block something we don’t like,” Fry said. “We have to go through the proper process. He’s exploited his power, used incorrect governance procedure, and it’s likely going to come bite him in the ass. Then we, the taxpayers of Vancouver, will be on the hook for the legal challenge.”

Third, it’s not clear if the city has the authority to block a service that the city doesn’t have jurisdiction over, Coun. Bligh told The Tyee.

The site doesn’t need to be rezoned and city council isn’t involved in issuing or denying development permits, she said.

It’s possible the city could change the building’s zoning or adopt interim control bylaws, which would be a first for Vancouver, she said.

She told The Tyee that in her view, that would be a misuse of taxpayer money.

“This OPS has been pushed around the neighbourhood relentlessly and VCH keeps finding a new space within a two-block radius because that’s where the need is,” she said.

Sim’s urgent motion “is being presented as decisive action but shows a pattern of mismanagement that is costing taxpayers money and time while also putting people at risk,” Bligh added.

“We’re seeing the same cycle repeat: the site is shut down or blocked; there’s no ready alternative; the system is forced to start over.”

It’s got to be costly to find, rebuild and restock new sites as well as move staff, security and equipment around and do community consultations, Bligh added.

And deleting the service doesn’t delete the problem of the toxic supply of drugs, she said.

Bligh said she would like to see government response to the ongoing toxic drug crisis ramp up so that people can access on-demand treatment.

She’d also like to see more of a focus on prevention and working holistically to prevent people — especially young people — from falling into the cycle of drug use.

But ultimately it “doesn’t make sense” for the city to be taking a combative approach against Vancouver Coastal Health, she said.

When asked how Felicella would be spending May 29 now that it’s no longer “Guy Felicella Day,” he told The Tyee every day is “Guy Felicella Day.”

“I have a beautiful family, I have an amazing career, I have good friends, I have a lot of support. For me — May 29, May 30, June 1, whatever — I’m living my best life right now,” he said.

“I’m going to do what I do because I care about helping people, and that won’t change because this [honour] goes back,” he added. 

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