ACCKWA to run Cambridge's consumption and treatment services site

Cambridge's consumption and treatment services site is one step closer to opening, as the AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Area (ACCKWA) has stepped up to run the service. But the location is still months away from being fully operational. 

ACCKWA will collaborate with the Cambridge North Dumfires Ontario Health Team (OHT) and other partners to complete the application, which is expected to take several months.

Cambridge city council picked 150 Main St. in downtown Galt as the location for the site in fall 2021 after Coun. Donna Reid brought forward the motion to endorse a consumption and treatment site at that location.

Since then, the city had been working with Region of Waterloo Public Health and the local OHT to find an organization willing to operate the site before sending the city's application to the province.

"I really believe that [ACCKWA] will be the proper organization to lead this CTS," Ried said Tuesday.

"I think it's the right time, it's about time we had a CTS in Cambridge and I believe it's in the right place on 150 Main."

But there is still much work to be done, said Ruth Cameron, executive director of ACCKWA.

"We have to gather additional information including speaking to community, both program participants who would use consumption and treatment services, close-by businesses and consulting with residents in Cambridge to gather all of that feedback as part of this submission," said Cameron. 

Cameron added ACCKWA and the Ontario Health Team also need to connect with the provincial and federal governments throughout the process, meaning there is no firm date as to when the CTS will be up and running.

Overdose deaths a 'sad and disheartening statistic'

Waterloo Region has seen fatal opioid overdoses increase by 58 per cent: from 61 in 2019 to 105 in 2020, according to the local chapter of the Ontario Health Team.

"We are now in a situation where, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have lost over 500 individuals to overdose in the last five to six years in Waterloo region and that is a very sad and disheartening statistic to repeat," Cameron said, noting over 100 people have died due to overdose in the last four years in Cambridge alone.

She said members with the city's Multi-Agency Community Space drop-in have been responding to overdoses in the area of 150 Main St. every month, but said there is an urgency to provide a safe space for people to use substances without stigma and provide wrap around supports.

Challenging the stigma

Having a CTS in Cambridge has generated polarizing views in years past. Kristin Kerr with the local Ontario Health Team, said her organization will continue to challenge the narrative and stigma around substance use.

"Part of our job as the OHT is to help challenge the narrative around substance use being a moral issue or a behavioural issue. It's a health issue," Kerr said.

Cameron said  ACCKWA will continue to connect with the community throughout the process and address concerns people may have about the CTS site.

Cameron added ACCKWA and the Ontario Health Team will look to other local organizations that lead CTS sites in Kitchener, Guelph and London for guidance and lessons learned as the process continues.