Two former mayors of Toronto, an addiction physician and other community advocates urged Premier Doug Ford’s government to reverse its decision to close safe consumption sites in Toronto at a news conference in Queen’s Park on Tuesday.
The Ford government is planning legislation that will shutter at least five Toronto supervised drug consumption sites by March 2025 because they are located within 200 metres of schools or daycares. It will also prohibit new ones from opening, as the province shifts its approach to the drug overdose crisis toward a model it says focuses on treatment, recovery and community safety.
David Crombie, who served as Toronto’s mayor from 1972 to 1978, said the decision represents failed policy. He said the government should instead strengthen the harm reduction service, calling it an important part of a comprehensive response to the overdose crisis.
“Reducing risk for people who use substances by providing supervised consumption sites also enhances the safety for the wider community,” he said.Crombie was joined by several others on stage, including John Sewell, who succeeded Crombie as mayor from 1978 to 1980.
The closures will apply to four provincially funded consumption sites:
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Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre – 168 Bathurst St.
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Regent Park Community Health Centre – 465 Dundas St. E.
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South Riverdale Community Health Centre – 955 Queen St. E.
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Toronto Public Health – 277 Victoria St.
A fifth supervised consumption site that is self-funded will also close as a result of the ban:
Ontario’s shifting approach to the drug overdose crisis has ignited a fierce debate between those who see supervised consumption sites as critical spaces that save lives every day and others who say they’ve made the neighbourhoods where they’re located unsafe.
In August, when Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the sites would be forced to close, she cited community protection as one of the reasons. The move followed two reviews of safe consumption sites ordered after a Toronto woman was killed by a stray bullet from a shooting near one in Leslieville.
Some who live near the Leslieville site welcomed the August announcement, while experts the government commissioned to study it recommended Ontario expand harm reduction resources — including consumption services.
“The government has disregarded the policy advice of its own hired experts,” Crombie said.
He said a comprehensive host of solutions are required to address the complex issue, including addiction and mental health services, harm reduction, public health services, emergency shelter options, affordable housing and residential treatment facilities.
Government says Ontario deserves better than sites
In response to Tuesday’s news conference, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said people in the province have made it clear that the sites cause safety problems near schools and daycares.
“Ontarians deserve more than a health care system that is focused on providing people struggling with addiction with tools to use illegal drugs,” said Hannah Jensen, a spokesperson for Jones, in an email.
Jensen also cited the province’s new addictions plan, which involves opening 19 homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) Hubs, backed by more than $300 million in funding.
HART Hubs will not offer safe supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs. Instead, the government says, they will offer other forms of support such as supportive housing, employment help and addiction care.
But Dr. Vincent Lam, an addiction medicine physician who also spoke at the news conference, said only providing treatment support and not supervised consumption services isn’t enough.
“The government is saying to people who use drugs that we’re going to provide you one and not the other. That’s not right, people who use drugs have complex needs,” he said.
He said committing to both routes is in the best interest of both those who use drugs and the city’s communities.