The provincial government has announced plans to ban supervised consumption site (SCS) facilities within 200 metres of schools and daycares beginning in March 2025.
Instead, the province says it plans to invest $378 million in 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs. The province says this will help in taking the “next step to create a system of care that prioritizes community safety, treatment and recovery."
According to a news release from the province, HART hubs, which are similar to existing models in Ontario that have provided people with care, will reflect regional priorities by connecting people with complex needs to comprehensive treatment and preventative services that could include:
- Primary care
- Mental health services
- Addiction care and support
- Social services and employment support
- Shelter and transition beds
- Supportive housing
- Other supplies and services, including naloxone, onsite showers and food
The hubs will also reportedly add up to 375 highly supportive housing units, in addition to addiction recovery and treatment beds, that will help thousands of people each year transition to more stable long-term housing.
With a focus on treatment and recovery, HART hubs will not offer “safer” supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs, noted the release.
The creation of these hubs — which will be done in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development — will not be allowed to deliver needle-exchange programs. However, needle return or collection services may be considered during the application process.
The change will result in the closure of nine provincially funded sites, and one self-funded site, located in Ottawa, Guelph, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Kitchener and Toronto.
Locally in Barrie, applications for what the province refers to as a Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) facility were submitted to Health Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health on Oct. 7, 2021 for a facility at 11 Innisfil St., near downtown Barrie.
The Barrie application came from the Simcoe County branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). However, the local application was rescinded in late June after what health officials said was a “complete lack of response from the province’s Ministry of Health.”
When asked on Tuesday what happens with municipalities that have open applications, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said she was unable to speak for various municipal leaders, but believes they are all “well placed” to bring the various resources and organizations together to apply for a HART hub.
“I am not closing (these facilities). We are offering a transition. You must, by March of next year, have stopped offering a CTS — drug consumption — but we are also offering the opportunity to transition to a HART hub,” she said during a media scrum at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa.
Jones said the plan is to start with 19 “demonstration projects” and then look at what the applications involve.
“We have been very clear on what it cannot use," she said. "The additions of what we see in the applications will drive a little bit of our decisions on (if we) can we look at more.
"Because they’re demonstration projects, it actually gives us an opportunity to do the data collection and the studying to see what ultimately is going to make the biggest difference,” Jones added. “I don’t think it matters what side of the issue you are on. It matters that everybody wants to do better."
I do not call watching someone inject an illicit drug to be health care in the province of Ontario. We need to do better and we can do better.
Although some health officials and advocates have expressed concern that site closures will result in more deaths from the opioid crisis, Jones disagreed.
“People are not going to die. They are going to get access to service," the minister said. "I do not call watching someone inject an illicit drug to be health care in the province of Ontario. We need to do better and we can do better.
"We are going to do that by ensuring people who have an addiction, people who have a mental health issue, have a pathway to treatment and to service," Jones added.
Transitioning current CTS sites into the new HART hubs model is likely to take place “very quickly,” she said, while the timing of other applications will depend on what they bring forward.
"We have dealt with these problems for a long time and I want to see these applications quickly being up and running,” Jones said. “I believe, because municipalities and community organizations are motivated and very excited about this opportunity, that you will see some application approvals come in the late 2024.”
Applications will open later this month and close by October, she noted.
According to the news release, existing sites that are provincially funded will be encouraged to submit proposals to transition to HART hubs and will be prioritized by the province during the review process. They could be eligible, on average, for up to four times more funding under the HART hubs model than they receive from the province as a supervised consumption site.
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall said he was pleased with today's news in Ottawa.
"Today’s announcement by the provincial government will deliver safer streets for the residents of Ontario through increased funding for mental health and addiction supports as well as preventing injection sites from being located next to daycare centres and schools," he said in the province's news release.
"I commend the provincial government for taking these necessary steps to protect our children and residents,” Nuttall added.
In order to restrict access to dangerous and illegal drugs, the government will also introduce legislation this fall that would, if passed, prohibit municipalities or any organization from starting up new consumption sites or participating in federal so-called “safer” supply programs.
If passed, the provincial legislation will also prohibit municipalities from requesting the decriminalization of illegal drugs from the federal government.
— With files from Jessica Owen
