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Premier Doug Ford told the media in March that a review of supervised intake sites in Ontario “shouldn’t take long. “
Ford inquired about the sites at an independent news convention on March 11 at the Essex domain near Windsor.
Windsor’s supervised intake site, Safepoint, was forced to close due to a lack of provincial funding. As it stands, Sudbury’s The Spot could face the same shutdown.
“It’s funny that you say that. I was talking about it today at my workplace,” Ford said, referring to the ongoing reviews of the customer’s site. The province is designating a shooting that took place at a drug use site in Toronto in July as a drug use site. There’s good reason to think again about each and every site in Ontario, but some said the pause was an attempt to finish the damage relief sites.
Ford said of the supervised sites, “It’s vital to the community, and if it’s vital to the community, then we’ll do it, but it shouldn’t last too long. “
Michael Tibollo, Assistant Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, estimated a two-month deadline for the review.
For The Spot, “too long” can’t be beyond March 29. That’s when the donations from the network that have been going on for months will run out.
Spot’s application was filed 30 months ago, in 2021, prior to the exam. Spot’s head of harm reduction, Amber Fritz, said it was unclear why the request took so long to process, even before the pause.
At least the programs submitted for the supervised admissions sites have been delayed: Barrie has been waiting for 28 months, Windsor for 19 months, and Timmins (13 months).
Timmins will close on March 31 and Sudbury is currently operating with donations from the community, which will last until March 29.
Among the spaces where supervised programs that are still pending have been presented, three communities have some of the highest opioid-related death rates in the province: Timmins, Windsor and Sudbury. Each has a death rate from opioid poisoning that is about three times higher. than the provincial average.
There have been no supervised entrances between Sudbury and Thunder Bay lately.
Ford has hinted that it will not replace the total number of sites in the province, which his government has limited to 21.
“In total we had announced that there would be 21 sites. We’re at 17, so there’s 4 left,” he said. According to the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, no new sites have opened in Ford’s six years in office. .
The impending closure of supervised intake sites in Greater Sudbury and Timmins prompted the coalition and representatives from several supervised intake sites in Ontario to send an open letter to the provincial government and ask the Minister of Health to meet with them by March 13.
The March 5 letter also sets March 29 as the deadline for approving funding.
In its letter, the CDPC stated that “the tragedy of an isolated case of gun violence in Toronto does not prevent others in parts of the province from accessing a must-attend gym any longer. “
—With archives through Jack Hauen, The Trillium
Jenny Lamothe, a journalist with Sudbury. com, covers Sudbury’s diverse communities, i. e. , vulnerable or marginalized communities, adding Black, Indigenous, newcomer, and French-speaking communities, as well as other 2SLGBTQ and downtown communities.
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