A local community group is calling on the province to remove the overdose prevention site operating at Stepping Stones shelter in Nelson. In April, neighbours living near Stepping Stones shelter in Nelson sent a letter to provincial ministers and B.C. housing officials.The letter calls for a full operational review, overhaul of the shelter, and a reassessment of whether the shelter itself is suitably located.
The letter is framed around the OPS site, but the site itself is placed within the context of a larger local debate. That is, the perceived general impacts of the shelter on the neighbourhood, a communication breakdown between those with differing points of view, and what the group of neighbours describe as a lack of response from the government.
The letter calls for the removal of the OPS but does not discuss the role the site plays in preventing overdose deaths or what services would replace it.
Nelson residents, organizations, and businesses continue to disagree on the location of the Stepping Stones shelter. The disagreement deepened with the introduction of an overdose prevention site or OPS.The OPS became fully operational in the shelter in February 2025
Chris McSpadden, manager of Stepping Stones, says he understands the concerns of the neighbours:
“…Our site does generate a lot of activity from emergency services. We are in a residential area. And y’know, sirens in the middle of the night or disruptions, nobody wants that. Nobody wants to live next to shouting or sirens in the middle of the night when they’re trying to sleep. So, I hear their concerns are extremely valid.”
All parties involved agree addiction and homelessness are serious problems. Staff at Stepping Stones as well as concerned locals agree that the system is inadequate to address the issues affecting vulnerable people. Everyone involved wants the situation to improve for the neighbourhood. Even so, an agreement on how and where to deal with this imperfect process on a day-to-day basis is difficult to reach.
A similar perspective
Tanya Finley, a Nelson business owner and Kootenay representative for Save Our Streets B.C., started the Neighbourhood Network in Nelson. Finley has publicly advocated many of the same positions raised in the Nelson neighbours letter. The copy of the letter obtained by Kootenay Co-op Radio had the names of individual signatories redacted, so it is unclear who signed the letter.
“The neighbourhood network was formed initially because there was an OPS site that was going to be put at the location of 818 Vernon Street, which is adjacent right beside the shelter, the current shelter.”
Finley says she is a part of neighbourhood networks in other communities as well – those in Trail, Creston, Kimberley, and Castlegar. She says anyone can join the networks.
Finley has been vocal over the last few years about services offered to people who use drugs in the area.
In February 2024, “the Hub,” a frontline service centre and drop-in program, was closed due to financial and funding issues. The Hub, also located on Vernon Street in Nelson’s downtown, connected vulnerable people to outreach and basic resources. Finley commented on the closure of the HUB in this 2024 interview with Kootenay Co-op Radio.
“We have asked for a pause in all services in Nelson until the community and the rest of the communities abroad in our region can manage what they currently have. We are advocating good neighbour policies and safe places for us to live, and I’m sorry that a vulnerable group in our community is being affected by this.”
In a 2025 interview with Kootenay Co-op Radio, Finley expressed how centres of this nature change the aesthetics of the neighbourhood.
“The downtown, it used to be a beautiful place. And now it’s being swallowed up by all sorts of Band-Aids and pilot projects.”
Comparing perspectives
In an interview conducted in June, Finley said she feels closing the OPS would improve neighbourhood livability by protecting those whom she describes as Nelson’s most vulnerable citizens.
“I believe it would keep children and seniors safe. Those are our most vulnerable people.”
McSpadden says the OPS site is important to prevent deaths in the shelter. Numerous people who stay at the shelter are vulnerable to drug poisonings.
“So, a lot of the clients that come to us are in active addiction and substance use. And they do need to meet their needs, due to opiate dependency and other substances. And we now provide the space, the safe space where they can meet those needs, in a place that is monitored by trained staff…And OPS means an overdose prevention site. So we have been extremely successful in preventing fatal overdoses in our OPS at Stepping Stones. In fact, 100 per cent of the toxic drug poisonings have been successfully responded to by our staff.”
In contrast to this definition of success, Finley says people repeatedly being revived from drug poisonings is not an effective application of harm reduction.
“We need to make sure that they’re not a harm to themselves or others. We’re seeing people repeatedly revived. The resources are not working…”
The BC Centre on Substance Use defines harm reduction as “policies, programs, and practices that aim to reduce the negative health, social, and legal impacts associated with substance use, without necessarily requiring people to stop using substances.”
In a recent interview with Kootenay Co-op Radio, Finley said she believes harm reduction has a role to play within a broader continuum of care, but she does not support locating the OPS or shelter on Vernon Street. She said the Neighbourhood Network — the group she started in Nelson — has consistently advocated for involuntary care units.
“Well, the one on Vernon Street, I think it should be sold just like we did the Interior Health building. And if not, then we’ve requested to turn it back to a dry shelter, which is what it was in the original state.”
McSpadden says that before the OPS was in the shelter, drug use was much more visible in the surrounding area.
“I’ve been working there before an OPS was on site. And I noticed that a lot of our guests were openly using substances on the 800 block in front of Stepping Stones, and the medical centre, because they had nowhere else to go. And that’s what it’s come down to. People who are in addictions will use substances, no matter where it is. So, we’ve provided a safe space, to take it out of community. Because it’s not, you know, a safe environment for the clients themselves or the members of the public to be exposed to that. So, we are trying to provide a safe space out of the public eye, that is being monitored by trained staff so they can use the substances, meet their needs, and not have an impact on the community.”
He validates the concerns of the Neighbourhood group, but warns that taking out the OPS could have deadly consequences.
“…My concern is that if we were to remove the OPS entirely, that we would see a return to open substance use in the community. And a rise in deaths in the community as well definitely would be a byproduct of removing the OPS from our site.”
While shelter staff and critics of the OPS acknowledge addiction and homelessness are serious problems, they differ on what they see as the most effective and compassionate response.
Police perspective
Inspector Jason Jewkes of the Nelson Police Department says he thinks “it’s important for the public to understand that the OPS is one part of a broader approach to addressing substance use in the community.”
Jewkes says the Nelson Police have not seen a significant change in their day-to-day interactions with people who use drugs since the OPS was introduced. He says officers continue responding to many of the same calls for service, particularly around public safety, disorder and community concerns.
Staff at Stepping Stones say they have had to increase calls to emergency health services for drug poisonings, because the illicit drug supply is becoming increasingly toxic. McSpadden says staff used to be able to reverse more poisonings with naloxone, but that approach is becoming less effective as the drug supply changes. Health Canada has also documented the increasing toxicity of the unregulated drug supply.
The disagreement over the OPS site reflects a broader debate playing out across British Columbia and Canada. How do we balance neighbourhood concerns, public safety, and efforts to reduce overdose deaths?
Part 2 of this series airs on Kootenay Morning, Monday, August 3. We’ll take a closer look at what happens inside Stepping Stones. In Part 3, we’ll look at how Nelson’s debate fits into the wider national discussion about harm reduction, involuntary treatment and what the evidence says about these approaches.
