
Leslieville drug consumption site closes doors for good in response to Ontario law
A supervised drug consumption site in Toronto's east end closed its doors for good on Friday less than two years after a shooting near the site killed a mother of two.
The keepSix Consumption and Treatment Service, located inside the South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC), 955 Queen St. E., closed ahead of the March 31 deadline to shut down as directed by the Ontario government.
Sixteen staff members have been laid off and the site closed earlier than required due to limited availability of staff, according to the centre.
"While this marks the end of an important service, we remain dedicated to providing compassionate care, equitable harm reduction services and advocating for the wellbeing of our clients," the centre said on Friday in a post on X.
Karolina Huebner-Makurat, 44, died in hospital on July 7, 2023 after she was hit by a stray bullet near the site in the area of Queen Street E. near Carlaw Avenue in Leslieville.
The fatal shooting prompted a community outcry and provincial reviews of the sites, which were followed by legislation that bans any supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of a school or daycare.
KeepSix is among the 10 safe consumption sites that were slated to close by the end of the month because of the legislation. It's one of nine sites that will transition into what the province calls Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs.
As a result of the closure, the centre says it will not offer supervised drug consumption, needle exchange programs and safer supply of drugs. But on its website, the centre says it will continue to offer sterile harm reduction supplies. Daily sweeps for drug litter in the area and overdose response training will continue, the centre says.
The room inside the centre dedicated to the site will be used as a meeting area.
Shannon Wiens, CEO of the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, said in a news release on Wednesday that staff were preparing for the closure by providing overdose response training and referrals.
"Over the past eight years, we have had many ups and downs but, through it all, we have reached thousands of people and saved hundreds of lives," Wiens said.
"Our compassionate staff, including community health workers, social workers, nurses and physicians, have made countless referrals to health and other services, such as housing support and mental health treatments, and provided team-based primary care, counselling, vaccinations, foot care, wound care and more," Wiens added.
"Grief and loss are not feelings that are unusual for our staff, clients and family members who use, work in or support our services and many are feeling the loss at the impending closure of keepSix. We are leaning on each other and remembering our work is never done — we will just need to do it differently in the coming year."
The centre is now co-lead of the East Toronto HART Hub, which is slated to open in April, that will provide healthcare, day programs, social services and housing support. The centre said clients will have access to primary care, mental health and substance use supports with referral to other services.
Fourteen organizations in all will operate the East Toronto HART Hub, which means it will be located at different sites.
Health ministry says sites closing for safety reasons
Hannah Jensen, spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said in an email Friday that the provincial government passed legislation requiring nine sites in Ontario to close for public safety reasons because they "are located dangerously close to schools and daycare centres."
The government did not require the sites to close earlier than its March 31 deadline, she added.
Jensen said the HART hub locations will open on April 1 to ensure no service gap.
The closure comes as a coalition of groups prepares to argue in court next week that the legislation forcing the sites to close violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The case is to be heard at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.
Supervised consumption sites save lives, activist says
At a media briefing on the court challenge Thursday, Zoe Dodd, co-organizer of the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society, said supervised consumption sites save lives and the legislation passed by the province to close them will lead to more overdose deaths.
"And the government knows this," Dodd said.
In a post on X on Friday, Dodd said she'd worked at the keepSix site for 15 years.
"The closure of this site is the loss of a life line," she wrote. "These last weeks many people have died including a coworker who we bury on Thursday. Life is struggle for the majority."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

CBC
5 days ago
- CBC
Peer support agency in Thunder Bay, Ont., readies for relocation, new supportive housing
Social Sharing A peer support agency in Thunder Bay, Ont., is relocating its drop-in centre, as it expands its services to include supportive housing on the south side of town. People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE), located at 510 Victoria Avenue E., is a central location for some of the city's most vulnerable. There, they can get food and free clothing, do their laundry, take a shower and connect with others in a safe environment. The organization has recently become involved in the province's new Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hub (HART) program, following the closure of the region's only supervised consumption site, Path 525, at the end of March. "We love this space. However, to make it work better with the new initiatives coming up by the government and for the initiatives going on in this business area, like the [Victoriaville] mall coming down, our people need a place to go," said Georgina McKinnon, PACE's executive director. In the coming weeks, PACE will relocate to 409 George St., directly across from Shelter House, remaining in the neighbourhood it's been serving for years. With the new space comes room for a dozen new supportive housing units, which McKinnon hopes become part of a continuum of care for people recovering from addiction, she said. "We're hoping to be one of the last steps, that people come out of recovery, go into more heavily-supported housing, down to lightly-supported housing," McKinnon explained. "We can help them out downstairs in PACE before they get out into the world on their own." The Thunder Bay district continues to have the highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario, at nearly five times the provincial average. NorWest Community Health Centres, which operated Path 525, is the lead partner for Thunder Bay's HART Hub. Unlike supervised consumption sites, HART Hubs do not allow supervised drug consumption, safer supply or needle exchange programs. According to the province, they instead focus on providing primary care, employment support, and mental health, addiction and social services — much of which PACE already offers. "I'm so excited," McKinnon said of the upcoming move. "PACE is expanding in so many ways, it's amazing." 'They help me with all of it' Everyone who works at PACE has lived experience of the challenges their clients are going through, such as homelessness, addictions and mental health issues. David Baumgartner is a long-time client at PACE who started coming there when he was staying at an overnight shelter. "It kind of became like my second home. I'm here often, pretty much every day, for everything from just talking to people to eating to getting clothes, whatever," he said. "They help me with all of it." He said it's important for the city to support places like PACE, which are open to everyone. "Even though I have an apartment, I still come here to eat. I come here to get out of the house; it gets depressing sitting in there all the time," Baumgartner said. "It kind of became like my second home." - David Baumgartner, client at PACE "It's really important to have a space like this, where people can feel safe." McKinnon said PACE is planning a seamless transition to its new space to avoid any disruption in services. A moving company is expected to start bringing things over from the Victoria Avenue East location in mid-July. Renovations have already started at the George Street building, she said. Her hope is that as PACE expands its presence in the region, more people gain a better understanding of the clients it serves. "Once you get to know the people that come to PACE, you get a whole different idea of them. They're wonderful people that really want to give back to the community," McKinnon said. As temperatures begin to rise, she said PACE is most in need of donations of seasonal clothing — especially for men — as well as shoes, kitchen and household items and fans.


CTV News
15-05-2025
- CTV News
HART Hub expected to launch in Barrie by July
It will be two months until the Ford government's newest way to help those battling addictions will fully be operational within Barrie. On Wednesday, city council received an update from the County of Simcoe, detailing its homelessness strategies to date, including what stage the Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub will be ready in the city. The County was approved to set up a HART hub in Barrie this past winter, alongside 26 other locations across the province. The hubs will also replace outgoing consumption and treatment service sites scattered across cities in Ontario. On Wednesday, the County told city council it was making major progress towards finally opening the services to the region's most vulnerable. The County said it is currently in what it calls a 'soft launch' phase of a four-phase process with the new treatment option. 'We're scheduling some wellness clinics between May and June to get out there in the community, meet folks who may be eligible for heart hub services, and get started right away with some specific services,' said Amy Marshall, Community Support and Wellbeing director at the County of Simcoe. 'Not the full launch, but some services that are more available immediately.' The County said the hub would include a wide range of mental health and addictions services, including treatment, recovery, supportive housing, primary healthcare and social and human services. The HART hub will also work in tandem with existing services throughout the county, to look at expanding the services throughout the region. 'That integrated approach is really what's going to be useful for folks,' Marshall added. The county also updated city council on other measures it is taking to tackle homelessness in the city, including the controversial clearing of an encampment at Berczy Park last summer. According to the county, since crews moved in to help offer support, 75 per cent of those living in the encampment have now transitioned into permanent housing. 'Of those who are in and out of shelter, they're still being supported with our traditional supports,' said Mina Fayez-Bahgat, the County's Social and Community Services Manager. 'it's a very good pilot of what a 'Streets to Homes' model looks like, where you take someone literally from outside, consistently work with them to ultimately result in housing, permanent housing.' Councillor Jim Harris asked how the County's work on tackling homelessness relates to ongoing affordable housing projects, such as on Rose Street. Fayez-Bahgat told council that while the two are not directly tied together, supportive housing can provide an avenue for those going through the HART hub system to find housing that's more appropriate to their needs. 'The idea is by creating net new housing, you can start to move around your properties to create openings so that you can dedicate it for more specific health-based service,' he said. 'We knew that we need to end homelessness using these units, but we want to do it in a strategic way that allows people to come with supports – we create it through the creation of more housing.' The County said its next steps are to look at creating more transitional and supportive units, such as modular rapid-rehousing programs that it has currently set up across the region. Over the next decade, it will look to create at least 1000 affordable county-owned units across Simcoe County, as part of its affordable housing master plan.


CTV News
14-05-2025
- CTV News
Hiring begins for Windsor's new homelessness and addiction treatment hub
Recruitment is now underway for Windsor's new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery and Treatment (HART) hub — one of 27 being set up across Ontario as part of a $529 million provincial initiative. The hub, expected to open this summer, will offer wraparound services aimed at supporting individuals facing homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges. That includes access to mental health care, addiction treatment, housing assistance and employment support all under one roof. Job postings are now live for several key positions, including registered nurses, registered practical nurses, social workers and addiction support workers. The province approved Windsor's application for a HART hub in January. It's being developed locally by Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, which is overseeing its rollout and day-to-day operations. An exact opening date hasn't been set, but officials say the facility is on track to be operational sometime this summer.