Kitchener and Guelph supervised consumption and treatment sites to close as province announces new rules

The supervised consumption and treatment sites in Kitchener and Guelph will close under new rules set to be announced by the province.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Tuesday afternoon that supervised drug consumption and treatment sites will be banned if they're within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres. 

There are currently 17 supervised consumption and treatment sites (CTS) in the province. Under the new rules, 10 will be closed as of March 31, 2025, and it also includes five in Toronto and one each in Ottawa, Thunder Bay and Hamilton. 

In her speech at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, Jones said neighbourhoods in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton where consumption sites are located have seen higher crime rates.

"I've also heard that the status quo of drug consumption sites is not working. Parents are worried about discarded needles that their children could pick up. Some parents no longer feel comfortable sending their children to the local elementary school or have pulled them out of their local daycare," she said. 

"Businesses and communities are concerned about disruptive behaviour that increases crime around drug consumption sites and impact their communities."

The consumption sites in Kitchener and Guelph are endorsed by Health Canada, but funding comes from the Ontario Ministry of Health.

Kitchener site a 'lifeline': Executive Director

In Kitchener, the consumption and treatment site (CTS) is located at 150 Duke St. W. and is operated by Sanguen Health Centre. It provides supervised consumption and overdose prevention services, harm reduction supplies, Naloxone kits, drug checking, sharps disposal and access to other supports, including for mental health and addictions.

The site has been open since October 2020. It is located approximately 50 metres down the street from the YWCA City Kids Daycare located inside Kitchener's city hall.

In a release on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Sanguen Health Centre said they are "deeply concerned about the potential impacts this decision will have on our community."

"CTS sites offer a range of vital services, including supervised consumption, overdose prevention, harm reduction supply distribution, naloxone kit distribution, wound care, sharps disposal, and access to mental health supports, addiction services, primary care, and social services," Julie Kalbfleisch, director of communications, said in the release.

She added employees at the site have "long recognized and prioritized the importance of safety for all community members while balancing the need for the lifesaving services."

Sanguen's executive director, Dr. Chris Steingart, calls the site a "lifeline" and a "crucial step toward recovery" for the people who use it.

The release goes on to deny the claim by the province that safe consumption sites increase crime, and says they are strategically located to most help those in need.

The Region of Waterloo has sought to open another CTS in Cambridge, but that has site has not been approved.

In Guelph, the CTS is located at the Guelph Community Health Centre on Wyndham Street N. The Workside Early Childhood Education Centre is located approximately 200 meters away in St. George's Anglican Church.

'This is a bad policy,' councillor says

Region of Waterloo Coun. Rob Deutschmann posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that "this is a bad policy."

"The Kitchener [CTS] has been well received since its opening. Many lives have been saved. This policy will push people into the darkness, when they at least had a chance for something better," he wrote.

"Treatment is always a goal of harm reduction. They go together. To defund harm reduction and force treatment is moving the province in the wrong direction. Ontario needs to support both."

Regional Coun. Jim Erb, who also chairs the region's health and community services committee, told CBC News the region will need time to fully understand the impact once more details are known, but it's important they "continue to provide meaningful supports to people dealing with addictions and mental health in Waterloo region."

"My concern would be the trust that we've been able to build up with the community that we've been serving at our site," Erb added. "We've built up a considerable rapport, relationship and trust. And whatever is going to happen beyond March, we have to be able to continue to work with that community."

Guelph Coun. Erin Caton also posted on X that the decision was a "ridiculously short sighted policy that will result in overdoses, more on-street drug use and further drain on our paramedics and hospital."

Green Party of Ontario Leader and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner said people's lives will be lost because of the decision.

"Closing supervised consumption and treatment sites is not going to decrease drug use because providing care for substance users is not an either-or scenario," he said in an emailed statement.

"This decision is going to lead to more drug poisonings, more infectious disease spread and more people with one less pathway to judgement-free social services and addictions recovery treatment."

A report to regional councillors in June of this year showed that between January and March of this year, 4,036 people went into the CTS in Kitchener. In all of 2023, 14,098 people went into the CTS, up from 8,830 in its first full year of operation in 2021.

The region's CTS dashboard shows a record high 1,520 people went to the CTS in July.

A comprehensive review of the Kitchener CTS, reported to regional councillors in June 2023, indicated 3,887 referrals were made to community services. In the report, staff wrote that workers at the site "described the relationships and trust-building process with clients as a key component to the success of the CTS."

The province announced it is investing $378 million in 19 of the new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs. If the consumption and treatment sites that have to close choose to apply to become a HART Hub, the province said they will be "prioritized."

Erb welcomed that news and hopes that moving from a CTS to a HART Hub is a simple process.

"There's too much of a risk if we're not able to provide that service seamlessly. And so we need to transition from one to the other without any hiccups in the system at all," he said.