City councillors will hear the pitch for Barrie’s supervised consumption site (SCS) location next Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit announced that 11 Innisfil St., also known as 80 Bradford St., Unit 940, had been identified as the proposed location for an SCS in Barrie. Also considered were 110 Dunlop St. W., Unit 4; 11 Sophia St. W.; and 192 Bradford St.
An SCS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for individuals to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff. Consumption refers to taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.
Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman has said the province will determine the SCS's location, but city council is being asked for a motion of support for that specific location. The application would then be sent to the province.
“(The) province approves (the site), but (it’s) unlikely without a council motion of support,” he said. “It’s been a very long process and the number of deaths has risen sharply during the pandemic.
“We can’t wait any longer or add any more process steps," the mayor added. "People continue to die from poisoned drugs… (so it's) time to make a decision.”
Tuesday night’s agenda does not contain a motion to endorse the 11 Innisfil location, only to receive the staff report for information.
But that could change.
“Yes, I expect there will be a motion, (but I) don't know how it will go,” Lehman said.
Councillors will hear both the pros and cons of the preferred site at Tuesday's meeting.
Proponents say key benefits of 11 Innisfil include its proximity to those who would use the site, a large space with room for growth and a separate entrance, while concerns include its proximity to a residential area and a high traffic area, plus the potential to negatively impact businesses there.
In its report, city staff says councillors could endorse the application for an SCS at 11 Innisfil, subject to a number of conditions.
Those could include the applicant entering into a site-plan application, or an exemption from full site-plan approval, with the city to address fencing, landscaping, access, security cameras, discarded needle collection boxes, appropriate property standards and property maintenance measures.
An SCS advisory committee should be established, along with a security plan and a needle sweep plan.
Other related neighbourhood integration matters will also have to be addressed.
Or councillors could decide that information contained within the staff report should not be received and more information is required from the applicant or city staff.
The search for a location was carried out by the lead applicant, the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Simcoe County Branch (CMHA), and the local health unit as co-applicant, along with the SCS site selection advisory committee.
Tuesday night’s presentation, which is available on the city’s website barrie.ca, contains a number of letters of support from institutions and people.
Maryanne Strano and her husband, Robert Lewis-Watts, are supporters.
“We believe that having a supervised consumption site will benefit our entire community – both those who are using drugs and the surrounding community – through reducing overdose fatalities, reducing public injecting, enhancing pathways to treatment, reducing the risk of HIV and hepatitis C from needle sharing and promoting a safer environment for drug use,” Strano wrote.
“I believe that the chosen site presents the best balance between serving clients effectively and ensuring an acceptable fit within the surrounding community,” wrote Kathy Brislin.
“The high rate of opioid-related overdoses in Barrie has been a growing concern impacting the health of our community. As a downtown resident, I feel it is imperative to make this service available as soon as possible,” wrote Alyssa Wright. “I know all too well the tragedy of losing someone to toxic drug poisoning while on a waiting list for a treatment centre bed — or losing them before they decide to seek treatment. Harm reduction is an essential component of dealing with the opioid crisis.”
There were 133 confirmed and probable opioid-related deaths in Simcoe-Muskoka in 2020, according to local health officials, with 47 confirmed and probable deaths in Barrie from January to September 2020, or two times the 2019 rate for that period.
There are also letters of support for the 11 Innisfil site from Georgian College, Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, John Howard Society of Simcoe and Muskoka, Barrie Bayside Mission Centre, Redwood Park Communities, Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness, Catholic Family Services of Simcoe County, and Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH).
Kelly McKenna, executive director of the Downtown Barrie Business Association (BIA), said its board made the BIA’s position on an SCS clear April 15 to the health unit, Simcoe Muskoka Opioid Strategy (SMOS) and the SCS site selection committee.
The BIA board said it recognizes the challenges surrounding the opioid crisis in Canada and here in the community. After a full review of the proposed SCS sites in Barrie, the BIA said it supports the efforts of the health unit and the CMHA, and considers the proposed 192 Bradford St. location the optimal location of the options that were short-listed.
The board said it recognizes that this location addresses the science, expert experience, satellite services and geographic location of need, while also recognizing and minimizing the concerns of the BIA membership and that of the greater community. As demonstrated by the BIA’s continued engagement in the consultation process, including participation on the site selection committee, the BIA said it recognizes the importance of social services, mental health, addiction services, methadone clinics and dispensing pharmacies.
The BIA said it does remain concerned with the unregulated, disproportionate, intensification and duplication of the aforementioned services in the downtown and, as such, views 192 Bradford as the best location from the four options.
The BIA has said previously it does not support the existence of a SCS within a one-kilometre radius of the current BIA boundary.
Only 192 Bradford appears to be outside the BIA radius, at 1.3 kilometres away from its boundary.
