Region can fund its own SCS site, incoming chair Karen Redman says

The region could go ahead with a supervised consumption site without provincial approval, but it would come at a cost, the future chair of the Region of Waterloo says.

In October, Minister of Health Christine Elliot said the province would fund 21 consumption and treatment sites, which would include supervised consumption services.

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At the time of the announcement, outgoing regional chair Ken Seiling said council wouldn't apply for a site under the new model until more was known about the application process.

Seiling also said there was some uncertainty over whether there was any point in applying, as the province said it would only fund 21 sites and there are already more than 21 sites in existence.

But incoming chair Karen Redman, who will be inaugurated next week, told CBC News that the province is encouraging everyone to apply, whether they already have a site or do not have one. 

And if they did apply and were denied, Redman said there is another way to bring a supervised consumption site to Waterloo region.

She said they could go to the federal government, ask for an exemption, and then fund a site themselves. 

"We look at this as a health issue — a health crisis — and we need to find the best solution," she said. "I think there's appetite at the region to investigate those types of things." 

But Redman admits she doesn't know how much it would cost to create and run a supervised consumption site and that the region would have to be "very cognisant of the fact that we're using public money to do this."

"So, there are still a lot of hoops to jump through," she said.