Ontario's decision to close 10 supervised consumption sites draws mixed reaction in Sudbury

Ontario's Health Minister, Syliva Jones, announced Tuesday that 10 supervised drug consumption sites across Ontario will have to stop offering services by next March because they have been deemed too close to schools and daycare centres.

But, she says the province will replace the sites with 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, which will provide drug treatment programs, and supportive housing, but will not offer supervised consumption or needle exchange programs.

Jones told delegates at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting in Ottawa that nine of those will be new, and the consumption sites told to close will be offered the opportunity to transition into becoming new HART Hubs.

The province will invest $378 million to create the new hubs.

Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre commended the move by the province to invest in solutions to the current crisis.

"Collaboration between the province and municipalities is key to addressing community wellness," he said.

"The HART Hubs reflect a focus on treatment and recovery, which mirrors efforts Greater Sudbury and local health providers have been using. I look forward to working with the province on helping people transition to stable, long-term housing."

Consumption sites in Sudbury and Timmins had to close earlier this year due to lack of funding.

This is not the time to remove life saving services.- Amber Fritz, Rseau Access Network

Amber Fritz, the manager of outreach and education with Sudbury's Rseau Access Network, which ran the city's safe consumption site until it closed down, says forcing these places to end their services is a mistake.

"This is not the time to remove life saving services," Fritz said.

"This is the time to scale them up and expand them. I think that this is absolutely horrifying. I think that this will directly contribute to more preventable deaths in all communities that have sites closed or, like ours, never even got a chance to receive provincial funding."

Fritz says the new hubs could be successful for some people, but not everyone is ready for a drug treatment program.

She says supervised consumption sites are often a first point of contact for people who use drugs, and can introduce them to other services when they're ready for treatment.

Fritz added that 77 people in Sudbury died of opioid overdoses in the first seven months of 2024.

The Ontario NDP released a statement faulting the provincial government for taking away "critical public health supports from communities amidst an ongoing homelessness and addictions crisis."