Cambridge identifies 2 potential consumption and treatment service sites

Cambridge city council will continue to hear from delegates for and against a consumption and treatment service (CTS) site at an April 6 meeting following a long and at time emotional meeting Tuesday night.

Council heard from staff that two sites have been identified for future potential CTS site locations.

City staff are recommending the sites at 15 Easton Street and 8 Oxford Street and will ask the council to move forward to consult with the community.

The two locations were picked from 25 that fit the criteria on a Candidate Site Evaluation Checklist that was laid out by the province's Ministry of Health.

The building needs to be a ground level location, close to transportation and in an area where overdose calls come in. Also on the list, the location has to be away from childcare centres, schools, parks and residential areas. And one criteria the city added is that it has to be outside the buffer zone in proximity to downtown Galt. 

Location, Location

The location suggested for 15 Easton Street is an approximately 6,500 square foot location on a dead end in the area of Hespeler Rd and Dundas Street N, which is also known as the Delta.

The area checks all the boxes, including that it's located within the red zone  where most of the calls for service are coming from for overdose situations or opioid poisonings. 

But the city agenda notes it is not within the recommended 10 minute walking distance from where drug use occurs.

The Oxford Street site, which is at the corner of Roseview Avenue, is a 3,000 square foot spot which is about a 12 minute walk south of Easton.

The issue is that it's located within a residential area and within the 500 metre buffer zone within the city's downtown core. 

'Please vote yes for safety'

Up to 40 people were given five minutes each to express their views on a a CTS in the city. Council also received at least 200 letters.

One emotional call came from resident Deborah Donner whose young granddaughter Amelia died after ingesting carfentanil that was easily accessible in February of 2019.

Donner said if her daughter had access to a consumption and service treatment site her granddaughter would be alive today.

"Had there been a place where she could have gone safely she might not have been in an unsavoury place with my granddaughter," said Donner.

"I don't know if the locations of your sites are in the right place but please vote yes for safety and let your vote make a difference for the families who have a horrendous illness."

Donner's daughter is currently in prison after pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing death.

Public consultation planned

Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry says there are "many, many steps to go" in the selection process.

"Once a potential site might be located and a potential operator [of the site] may come forward and apply for provincial funding, then the provincial Ministry of Health will assess the application and then decide whether they will indeed fund that potential site or not," McGarry said.

"It doesn't preclude council from amending that motion to either add more sites or more consultation. But at the moment, the recommendation in front of us is not site selection, but a community process in order to look at these two candidate sites." 

When council gives the go ahead a public consultation will take place between April and July of this year. Then, based on the comments received, it'll be up to the council to determine which site is chosen before the city applies to the province for funding.