Cambridge council votes to allow a consumption site anywhere, but with caveat

Cambridge city council has voted in favour of allowing a consumption and treatment services site anywhere in the city, but the final decision on any location is still up to council.

Councillors discussed the consumption and treatment services (CTS) planning study Wednesday evening. For more than two hours, councillors heard from members of the community. That was on top of more than 50 letters and emails sent to council ahead of the meeting.

The meeting also comes at a time when Waterloo region is seeing a surge in overdose deaths, with 78 reported this year as of Nov. 3.

Council ultimately voted unanimously in favour of a motion that would permit a CTS anywhere in the city, but with the caveat that they still had the opportunity to withhold a council resolution for support for any application they don't think works well for the city.

Coun. Shannon Adshade said he supported this option because it gave council the most control over a location.

Coun. Pam Wolf said she appreciated all the people who spoke before council, particularly those who talked about their lived experience.

"I was very impressed with the whole process that we went through," she said.

No majority view on CTS

Coun. Scott Hamilton said he supported the motion because he says he's heard from people who were opposed, but "there were a lot of voices that were very much in favour" of a CTS.

"It's by no means a one-sided issue and I don't think there's a majority anywhere," he said.

He said there's an "open space" for discussion about what a local CTS can look like in the city. He said people don't need to be angry or take sides, but rather this is a time to do community consultations and the decision is "one small step" towarda final decision.

Mayor Kathryn McGarry says council has heard from "many, many people" on the issue.

"We are certainly aware of all the voices and we're trying to make the best decision possible, having taken all of people's comments in, looking at the evidence, listening to all the voices and then deciding the best for our community," she said.

"We have heard loudly and clearly where a CTS should not go and you've heard council already support the fact that we don't support it in a downtown core near our businesses."

Councillors had an option to not move forward with a consumption and treatment services site, but they were warned that going that route could see the decision overturned by the Region of Waterloo council or the Local Appeal Planning Tribunal.