The tent erected by the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society in September 2020. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Appeal dates to be set for pop-up injection site operator who had tickets dropped

Nov 16, 2021 | 2:03 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Members of the court are trying to iron out the dates for when an appeal can be heard for a prominent case in Lethbridge.

In September 2020, Timothy Slaney with the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society, along with other group members, set up an unauthorized tent in Galt Gardens and other sites with the goal of assisting those who were using illicit substances.

This occurred shortly after the closure of the now-former Supervised Consumption Site.

The City of Lethbridge issued 17 tickets against Slaney, most of which were for erecting tents or other structures in a park.

By April 2021, however, all of the tickets had been dropped.

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Miranda Hlady, Slaney’s attorney at the time, explained that no lawyer had been appearing in court on behalf of the city throughout the course of the file.

Anthony Purgas is representing the city in the matter and wanted to file for an appeal as a means of ensuring the tickets can go ahead. The appeal was supposed to take place Tuesday.

It was brought to the court’s attention in September 2021 that Hlady was no longer able to represent Slaney due to her changing law firms.

After another lawyer was attained on an interim basis, Amy Matychuk was brought on as Slaney’s council about a week before Tuesday’s appeal hearing.

Matychuk requested an adjournment so she could have more time to review all of the files. That request was accepted.

We are now expecting to learn in December when the appeal for Slaney’s case will take place.

by David Opinko