51 agencies plead with Ontario for emergency funding for safe consumption sites

Windsor’s SafePoint closed at the end of 2023 because the province had “paused” the application process.

In response, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) has sent a letter to Ontario’s Ministry of Health asking to “suspend the inertia” around consumption and treatment services (CTS).

“At their core the service is about a small room, with a table, a chair and a pair of eyes able to respond to a life threatening emergency,” Michael Parkinson with the Drug Strategy Network of Ontario said Tuesday in a virtual news conference.

“Yes, absolutely people come here to consume drugs but that's one small component of what happens within these sites,” Amber Fritz with Réseau ACCESS Network in Sudbury added.

Advocates said CTS also connects users with social services, mental health supports and housing accommodations.

“That's not the complicated part,” Parkinson said. “The complicated part is the expensive, arbitrary and onerous approval process mired in provincial red tape that obstructs, dissuades and divides communities.”

The CDPC has asked for a personal meeting with Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones on or before March 13 to discuss their concerns.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson did not confirm if they had received the letter or if Jones could meet with the advocates.

Hannah Jensen did confirm the ministry is still reviewing the 17 CTS sites the province is already funding.

SafePoint is not included in the review, as it has not yet received provincial approval, although a Windsor location is one of the 21 promised by the province back in 2017.

“These reviews remain ongoing and will inform the next steps taken by the Ministry of Health including funding, location and application decisions,” Jensen wrote in a statement.

Windsor’s application for a CTS — led by the Windsor Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) — was submitted 19 months ago.

When SafePoint opened in April 2023, funded by local partners, officials expected the provincial funding would come through by the summer.

The application was paused because of the ministry review of CTS after a shooting outside a Toronto CTS site.

At the end of 2023, officials with HDGH and WECHU could no longer afford to keep the service going without financial support from the province.

Local advocate Michael Brennan with Pozitive Pathways fears with each delay, more people are at risk of dying or serious injury.

And, he fears the delays will make reopening SafePoint more difficult.

“That may require retraining, onboarding, re-establishing community network pathways to community supports and most important rebuilding that trust that we have started to establish with the service users,” Brennan said. “In other words, this massive local investment and time and resources and development of care pathways will be difficult to maintain without provincial investment.”