Calls to shutdown Community Outreach Centre dominate P.E.I. legislative meeting

"Shut the outreach centre down" was the pointed and often repeated message many people had for MLAs during a legislative committee meeting in Charlottetown.

Johnny MacDonald described life around the centre as "total chaos," and told members on the committee to scrap the centre permanently.

"Frankly, the neighbourhood is done with it. We want it closed immediately. We want the drug paraphernalia to stop being passed out immediately," he said, followed by a round of applause from many in the seats behind him.

"This has gone on for far too long."

Thursday evening's meeting was the last of four stops on the legislative standing committee on health and social development's tour of the province.

The meeting was focused on policies and programs to address housing and homelessness on Prince Edward Island — and the contentious Community Outreach Centre in the capital city quickly became the centre of conversation.

Roughly 50 people were in attendance at Jack Blanchard Family Centre, with eight presenters speaking in front of committee. 

The outreach centre, located on Euston Street in Charlottetown's old curling club, has been operating since 2021. The centre's aim is to help people dealing with homelessness while opening the path to counselling, employment, food and housing services for community members who need them.

In the years since it opened, the centre has become a heated topic of debate for people living in the Euston Street area, who have said they feel unsafe.

Neighbours of the centre have complained of fights and threats; trespassing, vandalism and thefts; nudity and public indecency; public intoxication and open drug use; loose needles in surrounding streets and parks.

Most of the speakers Thursday evening were against the outreach centre outright, or called for an end to harm-reduction programs like handing out clean needles.

"Not once did I ever worry about a needle in a park," MacDonald said at the meeting about growing up in the downtown Charlottetown neighbourhood.

"The drugs are overpowering the system and it's robbing the people of the help that they need that really want it. This whole thing revolves around drugs."

Hailey Gallant echoed MacDonald's points, saying there's been constant open drug use and crime pouring out of the centre into neighbouring streets.