9 Ontario supervised consumption sites to close despite injunction, minister says

Liam Casey · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 1:50 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

Nine Ontario supervised depletion sites volition adjacent Tuesday arsenic planned, the provincial authorities said Monday, contempt a caller tribunal injunction allowing them to stay unfastened temporarily.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the injunction Friday portion a justice reviews a law situation of a provincial instrumentality that bans sites from operating wrong 200 metres of schools oregon daycares. The instrumentality takes effect connected Tuesday.

Only 1 retired of 10 sites slated for closure is poised to enactment open. Nine agreed to go caller homelessness and addiction betterment attraction hubs, oregon HART hubs arsenic the state calls them.

They volition person astir 4 times arsenic overmuch wealth arsenic they did nether a erstwhile backing exemplary — but they volition not beryllium allowed to connection supervised cause depletion services.

"The 9 transitioning HART hubs are opening April 1 arsenic planned, ensuring the continuity of intelligence wellness enactment services erstwhile cause injection sites adjacent connected March 31," said Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

"All 9 hubs person received startup backing and the ministry volition proceed to enactment with them to finalize their operational budgets by mid-April."

Late Friday, Justice John Callaghan said each sites that were slated for imminent closure could stay unfastened until 30 days aft helium decides the case, uncovering that the imaginable harm to cause users should the sites adjacent outweighed the hazard of nationalist upset nearby.

Kensington Market tract volition not change

Shortly aft the decision, Jones's bureau told The Canadian Press the state would determination guardant with an abstinence-based attraction exemplary arsenic portion of the caller law, which besides bans the organisation and postulation of needles and different cause paraphernalia.

The Neighbourhood Group and 2 radical who usage its depletion site, the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site, had taken the state to tribunal past December, alleging the instrumentality violates some the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution.

They argued successful tribunal past week that the instrumentality violates the close to life, liberty and information of the person.

The Kensington Market site, which volition stay open, does not person provincial backing and volition not modulation into a HART Hub — truthful it is not handcuffed similar the different sites, said CEO Bill Sinclair.

"More than 21,000 overdoses person been reversed successful the past 5 years astatine each these sites, and collectively crossed the province, galore lives are saved and radical are walking astir present due to the fact that our doors were open," Sinclair said.

"So we're gladsome to beryllium capable to proceed to supply life-saving services."

One of 2 sites tally by the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Sites volition besides adjacent for bully connected Monday night, contempt the enactment celebrating the tribunal injunction past week.

Funding an issue

The Queen West depletion tract volition person to shutter its doors Monday, said the site's enforcement director, Angela Robertson.

Taking vantage of the tribunal injunction would mean losing the wealth the tract is acceptable to person for the HART hub conversion, she said.

A national exemption allowing the tract to supply supervised depletion expires Monday, she added, and it can't beryllium extended without backing being secured.

Robertson said the site's clients are being told to determination to a sister tract successful the Parkdale neighbourhood that volition proceed to run due to the fact that it is not wrong 200 metres of a schoolhouse oregon daycare and truthful doesn't autumn nether the caller legislation.

It was a hard play for users of the site, she said.

"It's hard due to the fact that the clients heard the quality of an injunction and clients came to the work this play believing that we person 30 much days to stay open," Robertson said.

"That's however clients heard the quality and we've had to dash their hopes."

A tract successful Kitchener, Ont. is successful the aforesaid concern arsenic the Queen West site. Sanguen Health Centre's national exemption expires Monday and it cannot get much backing from the state if it continues to let cause use, truthful its doors volition besides close.

The Sanguen Health Centre vowed to proceed the combat to prevention its supervised depletion site.

"While we would reopen instantly if we had the indispensable exemption, installation and funding, we volition proceed moving diligently to reconstruct these captious services, should the ineligible situation yet beryllium successful," said Julie Kalbfleisch, a spokeswoman for the centre.

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario called connected Premier Doug Ford for a last-minute reversal.

"Premier Ford has the powerfulness to marque 1 of the astir consequential decisions successful his vocation — to prevention lives — by rescinding the government's authorities to unopen down (supervised consumption) sites," said RNAO President Lhamo Dolkar successful a statement.

"We are urging our premier to bash so, immediately."

More than 2,600 Ontarians died of opioid overdoses successful 2023, the past afloat twelvemonth of information disposable from Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner.

Court heard past week that much than 21,000 overdoses person been reversed astatine supervised depletion sites crossed the state since they became ineligible successful 2019.

The state is investing $550 cardinal to money a full of 28 HART hubs crossed Ontario, on with 540 new, highly supportive lodging units.