The Ford government is introducing strict new rules for supervised drug consumption sites, including banning them within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres — a move that will force several existing sites to shut down permanently.
During a speech at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s annual conference in Ottawa, Minister of Health Sylvia Jones announced measures that will also stop local governments from requesting new sites via the federal government and a new stream of funding for addiction recovery.
“Communities, parents and families across Ontario have made it clear that the presence of consumption sites near schools and daycares is leading to serious safety problems,” Jones said.
“We need to do more to protect public safety, especially for young school children, while helping people get the treatment they need, which is why we’re taking the next step to expand access to a broad range of treatment and recovery services, while keeping kids and communities safe.”
The new policy, which falls in line with Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s vocal criticism of safe consumption sites, drew mixed reactions from opposition parties.
The Ontario NDP called it “callous” while the Ontario Liberals accepted the decision to ban sites near schools but said the government was involved in a last-minute “scramble” to fix a policy it should have worked out long ago.
A ban close to schools
The biggest change the province is touting is a ban on safe drug consumption sites within 200 metres of either schools or child-care centres.
That measure will mean the closure of nine sites funded by the provincial government and another self-funded site. Five of the 10 sites set to close are in Toronto, with all but one located in southern Ontario.
The government said that crime in the area around safe consumption sites is “significantly higher” than in other areas. In Hamilton, for example, the province said violent crime is 193 per cent higher near its safe consumption site than in other parts of the city.
In a news release on Tuesday, the province said it was also clamping down on safe consumption sites after reports that drug alternatives at the sites were being sold to street drug dealers.
“The government’s new direction is also informed by reports from police services in Ontario and across Canada that hydromorphone distributed at consumption sites is being diverted and trafficked, increasing the supply of dangerous and illegal drugs in communities where these sites operate,” the province said.
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The 10 sites that are set to close are:
- Guelph Community Health Centre – 176 Wyndham St. N., Guelph
- Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre – 70 James St. S., Hamilton
- NorWest Community Health Centre – 525 Simpson St., Thunder Bay
- Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre (Bathurst) – 168 Bathurst St., Toronto
- Regent Park Community Health Centre – 465 Dundas St. E., Toronto
- Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services – 150 Duke St. W., Kitchener
- Somerset West Community Health Centre – 55 Eccles St., Ottawa
- South Riverdale Community Health Centre (Queen) – 955 Queen St. E., Toronto
- Toronto Public Health (The Works) – 277 Victoria St., Toronto
- Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site, The Neighbourhood Group – 260 Augusta Ave., Toronto
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The sites must close no later than March 31, 2025.
The Ford government said that it also plans to introduce legislation in the fall that will make it harder — or impossible — for municipalities or other self-funded sites to apply for legal exemptions from the federal government to operate their own sites, independently from Queen’s Park.
“(The legislation would), if passed, prohibit municipalities or any organization from standing up new consumption sites or participating in federal so-called ‘safer’ supply initiatives,” the province said.
“If passed, the legislation will also prohibit municipalities from requesting the decriminalization of illegal drugs from the federal government.”
Ontario froze funding and approvals for safe consumption sites last summer when it undertook a review of the entire process following a Toronto shooting. While that process has been frozen, local municipalities, including the Region of Peel, have put up their own funding to operate sites.
They had hoped that running the sites at cost would demonstrate to the government they were desperately needed. Dr. Kate Bingham, Peel Region’s acting medical officer of health, told Global News in March they had no reason to believe the province’s review would stifle their plan.
“We haven’t heard anything to suggest that part of the review would be to cease funding to the sites but I wouldn’t want to speak for the province,” she said. “We’re hopeful that the review will conclude soon and we can understand the impacts it might have on the future of provincial funding.”
Other strict measures to be brought in, with new recovery hubs
The province is not stopping with its ban near school and work to slow the growth of new sites — and will also introduce more measures at the remaining safe consumption locations that continue to operate.
Sites will be required to work with local police to review “crime prevention through environmental design” every three years and work on policies to discourage loitering. The province also said the Ministry of Health would be taking on greater oversight of safety and security concerns.
All complaints — regardless of “substantial or scope” — will now be passed to the Ministry of Health, which said it will also be looking at how effectively those complaints have been dealt with.
At the same time, the government said it will be bringing in its own plans for addiction recovery with new treatment hubs focusing on mental health and addictions. A total of 375 “highly supportive housing units” will be added, focusing on treatment without safe supply.
The government said it would encourage the nine sites it funds that are set to close to transition to its new model, nicknamed HART, offering them the potential that the switch would quadruple their funding.
“We are investing more than any government in Ontario’s history to create a nation-leading system of mental health and addictions care,” Michael Tibollo, associate minister of mental health and addictions, said in a statement.
“The new HART Hubs are a next step in the vision first outlined in the Roadmap to Wellness and expanded on in the Addictions Recovery Fund to provide the substantial regional resources that are needed to keep our communities safe and give people their lives back through treatment and recovery.”
The government distributed supportive statements from the mayors of Brampton, Sudbury, Guelph and Windsor in a media package that came with the announcement.
New policy comes after provincial review
The new policy comes following a government review of safe consumption sites in Ontario that began last summer. It was triggered by the death of a mother in Toronto, killed by a stray bullet after a fight near one of the city’s sites.
A second-degree murder charge was laid in the death of Karolina Huebner-Makurat, who was walking near Queen Street and Carlaw Avenue in Leslieville on July 7 when a fight between three men broke out.
The fight allegedly took place between people potentially involved in the sale of illegal drugs.
A review of the sites was announced soon after by the government, with Ford never afraid to hide his view on the issue. Most recently, in Thunder Bay, Ont., Ford teased Tuesday’s announcement and laid into the safe injection site model.
“I’ll be very frank, I’m not sold on these safe injection sites that are in neighbourhoods, needles are all flown around, it’s a haven for drug dealers in my opinion,” he said.
“Let’s get these people the support they need, build more detox beds…. I always want to support these people, get them back on their feet, get them good-paying jobs and get them back into society. It’s a terrible disease, no matter if it’s alcohol or drugs.”
Critics remain unconvinced by new approach
Ontario NDP mental health critic Lisa Gretzky called the new government policy “callous” and accused the government of lacking compassion for people suffering from addiction.
“We deserve safe and compassionate communities, where everyone has access to housing and mental health support,” said Gretzky. “It’s time for a government that leads with support, not stigma.”
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie agreed with the government’s position that safe consumption sites should not be beside schools but said the overall response had failed people fighting addiction and that the premier had failed to provide thoughtful policies to help people.
“Doug Ford has had plenty of opportunities to do exactly that,” she said.
“Instead, he dismantled the Opioid Emergency Task Force as soon as he formed government, while at the same time cutting health care funding to help for-profit companies. He’s had opportunities to make the right decisions the first time, rather than having to scramble to make changes. ”
— with a file from The Canadian Press
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