Which drug injection sites don’t tell you

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It’s been more than a month since Ontario’s Conservative government announced the province would be shutting down closing 10 Some very interesting maneuvers are taking place in harm reduction circles out of the 17 injection sites inspected.

There’s a particularly pressing dilemma at the injection site where I live across the street, at South Riverdale Community Health Centre, just east of downtown Toronto. The state has authorized the closure of South Riverdale and nine other facilities until March 31, 2025, to cease operations because they are within 200 meters of schools and daycares.

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The South Riverdale area may not even have that long. In order for any injection facility to operate in Canada, it must apply to Health Canada for an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act; This law still considers fentanyl, the most commonly injected street drug in such areas, an illegal substance. South Riverdale’s exemption expires Nov. 30, and supervised injection services cannot legally be performed without it.

My neighborhood had been aware of this history since the death of Karolina Huebner-Makurat, a mother of two young children. killed by bullet Three drug dealers operating around the site allegedly pulled their guns during an argument in front of the center on July 7, 2023.

In the wake of this tragedy, South Riverdale waited for the Doug Ford government to have an idea of ​​the site’s future before applying to renew its federal exemption. Since the August closure announcement, South Riverdale has said it plans to apply to not only extend its exemption from Nov. 30, when the province ordered the closure, until at least March 31, 2025, but is confident Health Canada will approve it. BT.

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This is where things get interesting. The province announced that while it was closing 10 of its facilities, none would be allowed to open in a new location and no new sites would be permitted.

Although some harm reductionists seem to believe that Ford will go back on decision I’m not so sure it’s before the March closing date. I attended a meeting on September 17th. Security of Our Cities ConferenceIt was held this year in Mississauga, Ontario, where Ford was a speaker. Addressing a room full of law enforcement leaders from across North America, the Prime Minister made a specific reference to his recent decision to close 10 “unsafe injection sites,” which he claimed were nothing more than magnets for drug dealers who were causing havoc and chaos in neighborhoods. .

“If it were up to me,” Ford said, “I’d shut it all down.”

So much for walking anything back.

After the conference I started researching what the waiver expiration dates were for other injection sites in Ontario. listings on their website. In interesting timing, the exemption for a facility in Ottawa called The Trailer, operated by Ottawa Inner City Health, expires on September 30.

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The trailer is one of three injection sites located in Rideau-Vanier, the same area of ​​Ottawa. None of the three are within 200 meters of schools or daycares, so after Ontario’s 10 sites close next year, Rideau-Vanier will be home to 43 per cent of the province’s injection sites.

I reached out to Rideau-Vanier city council member Stéphanie Plante to see if she had any information on how The Trailer demonstrates community support, an important requirement of the application process. Plante, which claims to have more injection sites than any other ward or riding center in the country, was floored. No one had informed him that The Trailer’s federal drug law exemption was about to expire.

On Sept. 20, Plante emailed Rob Boyd, CEO of Ottawa Inner City Health, asking if they had applied to Health Canada to renew their exemption. Boyd has not yet responded.

Plante also sent an email to Jeremy Proulx, Director of Parliamentary Affairs for Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks. Plante explained that Ottawa’s Ministry of Inner City Health did not notify or consult with key stakeholders in her ward about The Trailer’s exemption deadline or renewal application; Ottawa police, Ottawa Public Health, the local Business Improvement Area and community association, nearby schools and nurseries or nurseries, or even shelter staff who rent their space to the site.

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Given that the strong community engagement promised when injection sites were first introduced in Ontario was seemingly omitted, “in addition to the fact that this area has been a consistent source of concern, last shots And stabbingsrats and social disorder” Plante wrote, formally requesting that Minister Saks issue a notification through Health Canada that would trigger a 60-day community engagement period, something the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act gives the minister the authority to do.

If Health Canada and Ottawa Inner City Health were hoping to renew the site’s exemption under the cover of night, it was too late; Plante made sure the sun rose a little earlier than expected.

I sent about a dozen questions to both Minister Saks’s office and Jennifer Saxe, the Health Canada official who oversees the Orwellian exemption directorate. I asked questions such as: Why didn’t The Trailer site in Ottawa provide transparent access to all stakeholders listed by Councilor Plante?

And: Will the Minister or Health Canada accept Plante’s request and order a 60-day community engagement period?

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And: Given the growing evidence of crime and disorder outside these sites, is it wise to leave it to the sites alone to represent the views of those raising children and running nearby businesses in their renewal applications?

On Wednesday, I published a brief statement from Health Canada spokesman Mark Johnson that did not fully answer any of my questions.

Health Canada’s Jennifer Saxe confirmed to Plante that The Trailer had indeed applied to renew its exemption. Saxe also explained that because injection sites have requirements for community involvement, “the Department’s power to notify for consultation has never been exercised.”

The council member was confused. “How will residents (those living in the home and those not living in the home) know about the renovation if no one is notified or consulted?” Plante asked. “Also, your website does not state that (The Trailer) has re-applied, only the date his license expired.”

It’s no surprise that leadership at South Riverdale is confident that Health Canada will approve its upcoming renewal application, despite the site’s well-documented failure to communicate with the surrounding community, the death of a local mother, and accusations against one of its health care workers. Site employees were arrested for allegedly aiding and abetting one of the attackers to escape from the scene and obstructing justice.

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Not only that, but Public Progress, an outreach firm that South Riverdale hired a year ago to survey the immediate area, reported in a meeting with various stakeholders that the more than 230 residents and business owners it interviewed were nearly unanimous on the issue. The injection site needs to be either moved or covered.

It seems doubtful that any of this will matter to Health Canada, as it has become Old Trusted for the harm reduction community. Are you experiencing murders? drug and weapons raidscriminal charges? Fear not, injection sites, we’ll let you determine how bad things really are. We will never ask those who suffer your collateral damage what they think.

South Riverdale is so confident Health Canada can get it done that it recently distributed its own online survey; Although the exemption was never mentioned in the survey, he plans to use it in his renewal application. The survey questions have little to do with crime and disorder; a distinct “how will you manage without us?” vibration.

South Riverdale’s investigation yielded a series of truth bombs from my neighbors. “(You) have been given ample opportunity to engage with the community in a thoughtful and authentic way,” one wrote. “So it feels a little late to be asking the same questions again.”

This is a lesson Health Canada has already learned; There’s no point in asking questions you don’t want to hear the answers to.

National Post

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