Consumption and treatment sites in Kitchener and Guelph will close this week despite injunction being granted

Kate Bueckert · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

A justice has ruled the depletion and attraction services (CTS) sites successful Kitchener and Guelph tin enactment open.

But the triumph successful an Ontario Superior Court doesn't mean the section sites volition enactment unfastened beyond Monday — the time the state has said they indispensable adjacent by.

Sanguen Health Centre, which operates the Kitchener site, said successful a societal media station connected Sunday that they volition close. There are 2 reasons why, the station said. One is due to the fact that the site's exemption nether the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act expires connected Tuesday. The different is that determination is nary backing to stay open.

"We find the judge's acknowledgement of the imaginable harm caused by these closures hopeful," the connection said. "However, the concern is complex. The lack of provincial backing and the expiration of our CDSA exemption contiguous important barriers to maintaining services."

Melissa Kwiatkowski, CEO of the Guelph Community Health Centre which operates the CTS successful Guelph, confirmed they are incapable to widen CTS services beyond Monday.

"The authorities has been wide they volition not money the [CTS] site and volition withhold backing from organizations that proceed to operate," Kwiatkowski said successful an email to CBC News connected Sunday.

Last week, advocates from Toronto and Waterloo portion took the state to tribunal implicit the determination to adjacent CTS sites crossed Ontario. They sought an injunction to halt the closures connected March 31, a deadline acceptable by the province. They also argued closing the sites violates some the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution, including the close to life, liberty and information of the person.

On Friday afternoon, Justice John Callaghan of the Superior Court of Justice granted an injunction until helium could marque a determination connected the Charter challenge, which helium said volition instrumentality much clip to decide.

A spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the ruling doesn't alteration the province's plans to regenerate the CTS sites with homelessness and addictions betterment attraction (HART) hubs.

"Provincial backing for HART Hubs cannot beryllium utilized for cause injection services and volition beryllium contingent connected the enactment not seeking to proceed those services," Hannah Jensen said successful a connection connected Friday.

Diana Chan McNally, a Toronto assemblage idiosyncratic and adept successful harm reduction, told CBC Toronto "even though we are not amerciable astatine this moment, it does mean that we volition astir apt suffer services" due to the fact that of the deficiency of funding.

Kwiatkowski said the squad astatine the Guelph Community Health Centre "continues with the hard enactment of preparing our assemblage for Guelph's CTS work to adjacent connected March 31st portion we operationalize the government's caller HART Hub model."

"Over the past 7 months, we person worked diligently with galore partners successful our assemblage to guarantee this programme provides urgent assistance to those who request it. Our HART hub volition person immoderate services disposable arsenic of the 1st of April," Kwiatkowski said.

"While this is not a replacement for [a depletion and attraction site], it does person promise, and we privation it to beryllium a occurrence for our community."

CTS closure a 'significant' loss: Sanguen

The tract successful Kitchener is the lone 1 successful Waterloo region. It has operated since 2019 connected Duke Street W. adjacent Kitchener's metropolis hallway and has offered radical a abstraction to usage drugs with unit on-site, arsenic good arsenic different enactment services.

Sanguen has tally the tract connected behalf of the portion and reports determination has ne'er been a decease astatine the tract from an overdose. Staff intervened to forestall an overdose much than 1,000 times since 2019.

In 2024, the tract saw much than 15,000 lawsuit visits and managed 79 on-site overdoses.

In its station connected Sunday, Sanguen said the enactment "remains perfectly committed to re-establishing afloat funded and legally exempt supervised depletion facilities successful our community."

"These services are integral to harm simplification efforts aimed astatine mitigating overdose risks and are a cardinal constituent of the wellness attraction we judge everyone is entitled to," the connection said.

Sanguen said they would reopen instantly "if we had the indispensable exemption, installation and funding."

Advocates who are portion of the Waterloo Region Drug Action Team are hoping to person section politicians to find that funding.

In a missive sent to Waterloo region's MPPs and determination councillors connected Sunday, and shared with CBC News, the cause enactment squad urged the politicians to assistance support the tract successful Kitchener open.

"One of the applicants successful the tribunal situation is simply a nonmigratory of Waterloo region. The tribunal has accepted the precocious hazard of decease and wounded to CTS clients should CTS sites close, including the hazard of decease to the Waterloo portion applicant. We bash not privation your constituent, oregon different CTS clients, to die," the letters said.

"The lives of constituents locally and beyond precise overmuch bent successful the balance. Time is of the essence, obviously, and the assemblage is unclear astir however country MPPs are facilitating an exigency response."

HART hubs to unfastened Tuesday

The state announced successful August 2024 it would adjacent depletion and attraction sites it deemed were excessively adjacent to schools oregon daycares.

The sites successful Kitchener and Guelph volition beryllium replaced by HART hubs, with HART lasting for homelessness and addiction betterment treatment.

The biggest quality volition beryllium that drugs volition not beryllium allowed wrong HART hubs. That means radical cannot usage oregon person drugs tested connected site.

In Kitchener, the HART Hub volition beryllium located at 44 Francis Street S. and volition beryllium operated by the enactment Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo. It is inactive slated to unfastened connected Tuesday with provincial funding.

It volition connection services including intelligence health, addictions, modulation beds and assistance with housing, recognition and employment.

In Guelph, the HART Hub volition stay astatine the Guelph Community Health Centre, though unit accidental not each services volition beryllium disposable close distant arsenic the provincial backing is worked out.

Kwiatkowski previously told CBC News services like crisis and withdrawal betterment beds and supportive lodging units volition beryllium placed connected clasp for now.

"I cognize however overmuch we asked for, but we don't cognize however overmuch we're getting," she said successful an Interview with CBC News. "We can't walk wealth we don't have."

In an email to CBC News, Ontario's Ministry of Health said it continues to enactment with HART Hub partners to cod accusation for their multi-year budgets.

The Ontario authorities is investing $529 cardinal to make a full of 27 hubs crossed the province. Nine of those hubs are expected to beryllium unfastened by Tuesday.