How Edmonton is responding to a record number of overdose deaths

Edmonton city councillors say they were shocked and devastated to learn that a record number of people fatally overdosed in the city last year. 

Though many cities across Canada have seen overdose-related deaths decrease in recent years, Edmonton had its worst year on record in 2025, according to a June 18 memo sent to councillors by the city’s deputy manager of community services.

Last year, 770 people died of overdoses in Edmonton, according to the Alberta substance use surveillance system.

“It’s incredibly disturbing to see that the trend elsewhere in the province — in the country — has been going down, but in our city [it] has been consistently going up,” Ward Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang said in a recent interview with CBC News.

The substance use surveillance data show that compared to 2025, the rate of drug poisoning deaths per 100,000 has slowed in Edmonton so far this year, but 200 people died of overdoses in the city between January and April, nearly three times as many as in Calgary. 

Calgary also had a substantially lower overdose death rate than Edmonton last year.

The memo councillors received said the City of Edmonton has made progress on 31 of 36 recommendations adopted in an action plan council approved in 2023, and allocated $412,000 in annual ongoing funding to implement the plan and pay for personnel and project costs.

The memo said the city plans to keep working on fulfilling the recommendations and align with the provincial government’s recovery strategy.

Why Alberta is focusing on treatment to solve its toxic drug crisis

The city hosted a conversation about the crisis with about 80 partners in 2024 and distributed $1.1 million in federal funds to six local organizations last year.

City officials have also been participating in a drug addiction working group convened by the province last fall. 

One of the group’s goals is sharing data to better understand the issue locally and how to intervene.

Tang, who has a background in public health, said she would like to see more of a focus on harm reduction in the municipal response.

The memo said a recommendation for the city to advocate for additional supervised consumption services or overdose prevention sites is “no longer applicable” with provincial policy directions leading to the closure of sites in Alberta.

Alberta shuts down supervised drug consumption site in Edmonton hospital

Tang said there is a spectrum of approaches that can be taken when it comes to addressing mental health and addiction issues from harm reduction to recovery.

“By aligning to the provincial strategy, my concern is that we’re going to lessen or diminish the efforts on the other end of the spectrum when we know, based on research that has been done for decades, that the entire spectrum is necessary,” she said. 

One of the recommendations adopted as part of Edmonton’s action plan is to train and support city staff carrying and administering naloxone, the drug that can reverse opioid overdoses.

The memo said city officials are also exploring the possibilities of offering naloxone training to all interested staff and will have recommendations on that next month.

The memo said transit peace officers responded to 2,359 overdose-related events last year. 

Officers recorded 522 instances of naloxone being used — an increase of 41 per cent since 2024, according to the memo.

Alec Loney, a member of the executive board of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569, said transit peace officers encounter a lot of overdoses in and around transit centres.

He said they are taking a big mental toll on officers and causing other problems. 

“Unfortunately, when you’re tied up with an overdose, that takes away from their other duties, such as, let’s say, an operator needs help due to an assault or an unruly passenger on a bus, or there’s a fight at a transit centre,” he said.

Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio, a professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Alberta, said housing is one factor influencing addiction that should not be overlooked.

“Some people are using because they have to stay up so that no one assaults them, so that no one steals their stuff, some people are using because they’re trying to stave off being cold, being hungry,” she said.

“These sorts of things can much better be managed if you have a roof over your head.”

Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi Coun. Jon Morgan said the city is doing everything it can at this point and that he believes what is needed now are places for people to use drugs safely and more treatment beds.

“We need plans for people, help for people, housing for people and pathways for success for those folks,” he said in an interview.

In a statement, the press secretary for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction said the province is investing more than $30 million to add more than 400 treatment and stabilization beds in the Edmonton area.

Patrick Black, a nurse and manager of the overdose prevention team at Boyle Street Community Services, said it’s up to all Edmontonians, not just governments, to reverse the overdose trend.

“It’s really going to take a group effort from all of us, in government, the non-profits, in community to really make a difference,” he said.

Black said Edmontonians can educate themselves on how to respond to opioid poisonings at upcoming events at Sir Winston Churchill Square and Victoria Park on Aug. 31, which is International Overdose Prevention Day.