As HART Hubs open across Ontario, the location of Thunder Bay's site remains uncertain

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 01, 2025 5:33 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

As respective supervised depletion sites crossed Ontario modulation into Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, the imperishable determination for the 1 successful Thunder Bay remains up successful the air.

Juanita Lawson, CEO of NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), said the enactment is receiving $6.3 cardinal annually to transition its supervised depletion tract — Path 525 — into a HART Hub. 

Path 525, which opened successful 2018, is 1 of 10 sites forced to adjacent aft March 31 owed to a caller provincial instrumentality saying supervised depletion sites can't beryllium wrong 200 metres of schools oregon child-care settings. It was the lone remaining tract successful bluish Ontario.

Unlike supervised depletion sites, HART Hubs volition not let supervised cause consumption, safer proviso oregon needle speech programs. According to the province, they volition alternatively absorption on providing superior care, employment support, and intelligence health, addiction and societal services.

In a quality merchandise Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said Thunder Bay's HART Hub is temporarily operating retired of a drop-in centre until June 1, earlier permanently moving crossed the thoroughfare from an overnight shelter.

Despite the state listing a circumstantial address, Lawson said the enactment has not signed a lease for a permanent determination for the northwestern Ontario city's HART Hub.

LISTEN | Thunder Bay's Path 525 volition adjacent Wednesday: 

In an email to CBC News connected Tuesday, ministry spokesperson Hannah Jensen said "NorWest is up and moving their HART Hub astatine their interim tract (510 Victoria Ave.), which they volition beryllium astatine until June 1."

"Renovations are underway astatine 409 George St., which volition beryllium their caller determination owed to unfastened successful June," said Jensen.

The address, 510 Victoria Ave., is for People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE), which operates a drop-in centre and seasonal warming/cooling centre connected the city's southbound side. 

WATCH | Support workers successful betterment talk connected helping susceptible radical successful Thunder Bay: 

It is unclear what benignant of further services are being offered astatine PACE portion it serves arsenic Thunder Bay's impermanent HART Hub.

CBC News reached retired to PACE connected Tuesday and was told by its enforcement manager that they needed support from the ministry earlier doing an interview.

The code 409 George St. is crossed the thoroughfare from a adjacent overnight structure called Shelter House.

Court injunction not impacting Thunder Bay 

While an Ontario justice has allowed the 10 closing supervised depletion sites to enactment unfastened arsenic helium considers a Charter situation to the government's caller rules astir their location, Lawson said it doesn't marque consciousness to support operating Path 525, since provincial backing for the tract has already been pulled.

"We've laid disconnected each of our staff, we're closing our doors. Clients person been apprised for the past mates of months that this was happening," she said.

"I deliberation determination besides is an knowing that with receiving the HART Hub backing … that caveat comes with not offering a depletion and attraction service."

She described the HART Hub task arsenic "a precise absorbing puzzle, but with hundreds and hundreds of pieces," since the services to beryllium offered determination span aggregate authorities ministries. 

"It's astir apt 1 of the much analyzable processes that we've undertaken arsenic an organization," Lawson said.

Concerns astir much overdoses, nationalist cause use

On Monday, NWCHC shared an infographic connected Instagram astir what radical tin expect with Path 525's closure.

"Businesses and assemblage members whitethorn spot an summation of nationalist substance use, overdoses/drug poisonings, beingness of needles and substance usage paraphernalia successful nationalist space," the station says.

At Path 525, radical could person their drugs tested utilizing a cause analyzer instrumentality to spot if determination were immoderate unwanted substances successful them. This instrumentality has been a captious portion of the cause alerts that NWCHC issues utilizing the escaped Lifeguard Connect app.

Lawson said NWCHC is seeking national support to let outreach workers to supply cause investigating services done a mobile portion present that the supervised depletion tract is closed.

WATCH | How Thunder Bay's cause investigating instrumentality works

"With that volition beryllium a full program of wherever we'll beryllium successful definite locations, and radical volition get contiguous and timely accusation astir the substance that they're using," she said.

Kandace Belanger is the manager of thoroughfare outreach and harm simplification programs astatine the Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU).

She said the TBDHU's Superior Points Harm Reduction Team does a batch of outreach and overdose prevention successful the community, from providing sterile cause instrumentality to grooming connected however to administer naloxone, which is utilized to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

"Harm simplification supplies are precise important erstwhile it comes to corruption prevention," Belanger said. "I deliberation harm simplification successful and of itself arsenic good is simply a constituent of transportation for people.

"My squad not lone provides the equipment, but they supply a batch of acquisition and speech and transportation with clients."

The squad besides disposes of needles recovered successful the community; radical tin telephone them to put pickups if they don't consciousness comfy utilizing a needle disposal bin themselves.

"Knowing that those services whitethorn not beryllium accessible anymore done [Path 525], peculiarly harm simplification equipment, we'll guarantee that there's entree done antithetic avenues to that instrumentality and what radical need," Belanger said.

While the wellness portion does not person capableness to adhd much unit to the Superior Points team, Belanger said it works with different assemblage agencies that supply harm simplification equipment.

"That's benignant of the mode that we summation capacity, is by having it much accessible done antithetic organizations. It besides makes it much accessible to radical who request it, who possibly don't person arsenic overmuch entree to proscription oregon different things," she said.

While the process of getting the HART Hub up and moving has been challenging, Lawson said she feels hopeful astir the caller attraction model.

"The result that we're looking for is that radical person safe, unafraid housing and they person what they request to stay there," Lawson said.

"That there's pathways that radical tin get into attraction quicker, oregon into detox oregon they tin spell to attraction … that they besides consciousness that there's meaning successful their life."