'Extremely concerning': Two northern Ontario safe consumption sites fear closure

Anxiety is mounting over the future of twosupervised consumption sites in northern Ontario as funding for themis set to run out at the end of the year.

The cities of Sudbury and Timmins where opioidoverdose rates are well above the provincial average have beenpaying for the sites in their communities for several months but saylong-term support isn't sustainable, which iswhy they've appealedto the province for permanent funding.

Both communities are so far waiting on the Ontario government torespond.

"It's extremely concerning and I don't know what we're going todo," Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau said during arecent phoneinterview.

"This is a medical crisis and these sites should be funded bythe Ministry of Health."

Boileau said she's worried that opioid overdose deaths will spikeif the Timmins site -- which opened in July 2022 -- isforced to shutdown in January.

"Before the site opened, it was getting to the point whereweekly, and some weeks it was daily, Timmins was hearingaboutoverdoses," she said.

"For a municipality of 42,000, that means your neighbours, yourloved ones, people you went to school with, yourcolleagues, wereall being impacted by this."

The site reversed about 130 overdoses in the first year it wasopen, the mayor said, calling it a great success.

"Provincial officials don't want to see safe consumption statesas being the be-all and end-all solution for municipalitiesand Iwould just say that's not at all how we look at it," she said.

"If we received the permanent funding for this site, it wouldjust give us that opportunity to start focusing our attentionelsewhere, such as building affordable housing, because we wouldknow that the site is preventing deaths."

'What this place has done'

Data from Ontario's coroner's office shows that from April 2022to March 2023, the public health unit for Timmins and itssurrounding areas had a fatal opioid overdose rate of 41 per 100,000in population, the fourth highest in the province.

In the Sudbury public health unit, the rate was approximately 50per 100, 000 population the third highest in theprovince afterthe Thunder Bay and Algoma public health units, also in northernOntario.

The provincial rate for that time period was 17 per 100,000population.

In Sudbury, a safe consumption site funded by the municipalityand run by the harm-reduction agency Reseau ACCESSNetwork, openedeight months ago but applied for permanent provincial funding lastyear.

Site manager Amber Fritz said those who work at the site aregrowing increasingly worried about its future.

"It makes me really angry because I see what this place has donefor folks," she said, while standing at the site knownlocally as"The Spot."

"People are still walking this earth because they chose to walkthrough our door and they were supported by thisamazing team."

Funding from the City of Greater Sudbury is set to expire on Dec.31, she said, and the province has not provided atimeline on whenit might make a decision.

Health Canada provides exemptions under the Controlled Drugs andSubstances Act to allow the consumption of drugsat supervisedconsumption sites, but provinces and territories are ultimately incontrol of establishing permanentsites.

The sites in Timmins and Sudbury have exemptions from HealthCanada, which has allowed them to operate on atemporary basis. Bothhave applied to the province for permanent status and funding but Ontario has not issued adecision.

'Rigorous screening process'

Ontario's Ministry of Health said it "is in receipt of anapplication for a consumption and treatment site in Sudbury."

"All applications are subject to a rigorous screening processand timelines for the application screening process vary,"spokesperson W.D. Lighthall wrote in a statement.

The province did not respond to inquiries about the site inTimmins or provide further details on how far along the reviewprocess for both applications was.

Steve Jacques, general manager of community development forGreater Sudbury, said cities don't have the resources totackle theopioid crisis themselves.

"Municipalities are doing what they can with what they have butwe're not an endless supply of money," he said.

"This is a clinical type service that's beyond the capacity ofmunicipalities. It falls into the realm of the public health and itfalls into the realm of Ontario health."

Health-care workers and other experts have said there are severalfactors in northern Ontario that may help explain whyits populationis more vulnerable to the risks posed by opioids, including the factthat it has fewer social servicesand a higher percentage ofIndigenous residents who may have trauma related to colonialismthat's beenknown to lead to increased substance use.

Angele Desormeau, director of addictions and housing at CanadianMental Health Association Cochrane-Timiskaming inTimmins, saidworkers at the city's supervised consumption site fear that closurewill trigger a spate of overdoses anddeaths.

"The government will have to respond to that, definitely, butwhy are we taking it to that point?" she asked.

"It costs less to have people go to a safe consumption site thanto have them have to access EMS or potentially maybenot survive."