Calls grow for province to reverse decision to close Kitchener's consumption and treatment site

A notice of motion that calls on the Ontario government to keep funding consumption and treatment sites is set to go before Kitchener city council Monday night.

The province announced in August the consumption and treatment sites in Kitchener and Guelph must close by March 31, 2025.

The city council agenda for the 7 p.m. meeting shows there are 19 people scheduled to speak to councillors on the notice of motion, being brought forward by Coun. Deb Chapman.

Michael Parkinson, a member of the Waterloo Region Drug Action Team, is one of those slated to speak. The group issued a statement ahead of Monday's meeting, saying they want to see an urgent public health needs site opened in the city.

This is a program run by Health Canada and the group says it would help save lives when the consumption and treatment services site closes.

"The CTS closure, and the absence of a funded alternative, will result in deaths, injuries and other harms immediately. The additional burden on emergency services, non-profit staff, and health systems is universally unwelcome, and unnecessarily more expensive," the group says in their statement.

Another group made of local faith-based institutions, called Supportive Housing Advocacy Waterloo Region, wrote an open letter to Premier Doug Ford asking for his government to reconsider closing consumption and treatment sites.

Barbara Hill, who is the lead for the group, told CBC News the group wrote the letter because many who are facing a mental health and/or addiction crisis are also unhoused.

"I really do believe there's a humanitarian crisis out there," Hill said, adding the CTS in Kitchener has reversed overdoses and saved lives.

"It just seems actually unbelievable to take away something that is saving lives now while we try and get support in place throughout the region, throughout the province."

Drug testing, needle exchange won't be available

The consumption and treatment site in Kitchener offers a number of services, including drug testing and wraparound health services. If people who use the site indicate they want to stop using drugs, staff at the site help them seek treatment.

The drug testing was initially a pilot project funded by the federal government. That funding ran out on March 31 of this year and since then, Sanguen Health Centre has paid for the testing through its own budget.

The work of the drug testing program was recently highlighted in a community drug alert after there were 41 overdoses and three deaths in the span of a week.

Sanguen told CBC News it has tested a number of samples in the first year of the program:

• Fentanyl: 1,452 samples.
• Methamphetamines: 308 samples.
• Crack/cocaine: 210 samples.
• MDMA: 49 samples.
• Ketamine: 16 samples.

Julie Kalbfleisch, the director of communications for Sanguen Health Centre, noted after testing is done, "clients are empowered with information to decide how they will proceed" and many choose to lower the amount of the drug they use or not consume it at all.

Sanguen reports the breakdown as:

• Make no change: 33.9 per cent.
• Not consume or discard: 28.8 per cent.
• Lower the dosage: 28.5 per cent.
• Don't know or haven't decided: 6.3 per cent.

HART hubs to replace CTS

While the local consumption and treatment sites must close by March 31, 2025, the communities are being encouraged to apply to have HART hubs — HART standing for homelessness and addiction recovery treatment.

The province has said the HART hubs will "focus on treatment and recovery" and will not offer safe supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs. Needle return will be permitted.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones told CBC News on Monday that applications for the HART hubs are due Oct. 18 and so there are no details yet on timelines for when they could open or even if Kitchener and Guelph would get one.

Last week, Region of Waterloo councillors passed a motion calling on the province to continue to fund consumption and treatment sites, but to also continue to fund the HART hubs.