Latest news with #HomelessnessandAddictionRecoveryTreatment
CBC
02-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
As HART Hubs open across Ontario, the location of Thunder Bay's site remains uncertain
Social Sharing As several supervised consumption sites across Ontario transition into Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, the permanent location for the one in Thunder Bay remains up in the air. Juanita Lawson, CEO of NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), said the organization is receiving $6.3 million annually to transition its supervised consumption site — Path 525 — into a HART Hub. Path 525, which opened in 2018, is one of 10 sites forced to close after March 31 due to a new provincial law saying supervised consumption sites can't be within 200 metres of schools or child-care settings. It was the only remaining site in northern Ontario. Unlike supervised consumption sites, HART Hubs will not allow supervised drug consumption, safer supply or needle exchange programs. According to the province, they will instead focus on providing primary care, employment support, and mental health, addiction and social services. In a news release Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said Thunder Bay's HART Hub is temporarily operating out of a drop-in centre until June 1, before permanently moving across the street from an overnight shelter. Despite the province listing a specific address, Lawson said the organization has not signed a lease for a permanent location for the northwestern Ontario city's HART Hub. In an email to CBC News on Tuesday, ministry spokesperson Hannah Jensen said "NorWest is up and running their HART Hub at their interim site (510 Victoria Ave.), which they will be at until June 1." "Renovations are underway at 409 George St., which will be their new location due to open in June," said Jensen. The address, 510 Victoria Ave., is for People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE), which operates a drop-in centre and seasonal warming/cooling centre on the city's south side. WATCH | Support workers in recovery speak on helping vulnerable people in Thunder Bay: Support workers in recovery play key role in helping Thunder Bay's most vulnerable 12 months ago Duration 4:47 Thunder Bay, Ont., remains among the communities hit hardest by the opioid crisis. At People Advocating for Change Through Empowerment (PACE), all workers have lived experience of what their clients are going through. The CBC's Sarah Law spent time at the centre on the city's south side to hear how staff connect with clients through shared experiences. It is unclear what kind of additional services are being offered at PACE while it serves as Thunder Bay's temporary HART Hub. CBC News reached out to PACE on Tuesday and was told by its executive director that they needed permission from the ministry before doing an interview. The address 409 George St. is across the street from a nearby overnight shelter called Shelter House. Court injunction not impacting Thunder Bay While an Ontario judge has allowed the 10 closing supervised consumption sites to stay open as he considers a Charter challenge to the government's new rules about their location, Lawson said it doesn't make sense to keep operating Path 525, since provincial funding for the site has already been pulled. "We've laid off all of our staff, we're closing our doors. Clients have been apprised for the last couple of months that this was happening," she said. "I think there also is an understanding that with receiving the HART Hub funding … that caveat comes with not offering a consumption and treatment service." She described the HART Hub project as "a very interesting puzzle, but with hundreds and hundreds of pieces," since the services to be offered there span multiple government ministries. "It's probably one of the more complex processes that we've undertaken as an organization," Lawson said. Concerns about more overdoses, public drug use On Monday, NWCHC shared an infographic on Instagram about what people can expect with Path 525's closure. "Businesses and community members may see an increase of public substance use, overdoses/drug poisonings, presence of needles and substance use paraphernalia in public space," the post says. At Path 525, people could have their drugs tested using a drug analyzer machine to see if there were any unwanted substances in them. This machine has been a critical part of the drug alerts that NWCHC issues using the free Lifeguard Connect app. Lawson said NWCHC is seeking federal approval to allow outreach workers to provide drug testing services through a mobile unit now that the supervised consumption site is closed. WATCH | How Thunder Bay's drug testing machine works How Thunder Bay's drug testing machine works 1 year ago Duration 0:49 "With that will be a whole plan of where we'll be in certain locations, and people will get immediate and timely information about the substance that they're using," she said. Kandace Belanger is the manager of street outreach and harm reduction programs at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU). She said the TBDHU's Superior Points Harm Reduction Team does a lot of outreach and overdose prevention in the community, from providing sterile drug equipment to training on how to administer naloxone, which is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. "Harm reduction supplies are very important when it comes to infection prevention," Belanger said. "I think harm reduction in and of itself as well is a point of connection for people. "My team not only provides the equipment, but they provide a lot of education and conversation and connection with clients." The team also disposes of needles found in the community; people can call them to arrange pickups if they don't feel comfortable using a needle disposal bin themselves. "Knowing that those services may not be accessible anymore through [Path 525], particularly harm reduction equipment, we'll ensure that there's access through different avenues to that equipment and what people need," Belanger said. While the health unit does not have capacity to add more staff to the Superior Points team, Belanger said it works with other community agencies that provide harm reduction equipment. "That's sort of the way that we increase capacity, is by having it more accessible through different organizations. It also makes it more accessible to people who need it, who maybe don't have as much access to transportation or other things," she said. While the process of getting the HART Hub up and running has been challenging, Lawson said she feels hopeful about the new care model. "The outcome that we're looking for is that people have safe, secure housing and they have what they need to remain there," Lawson said.
CBC
01-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Ontario opens homelessness and addiction hubs, replacing consumption sites near schools and daycares
Ontario opened nine Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs on Tuesday, replacing the supervised drug consumption sites across the province that are located near schools and child-care centres. The hubs provide access to recovery and treatment systems for people struggling with addictions and mental health issues, but do not provide any drug consumption services, the province said in a news release Tuesday. These hubs were announced after the province passed legislation last year banning supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and daycares. Nine out of 10 sites slated to close in the province agreed to become HART hubs. Advocates have criticized the province's shift to an abstinence-based treatment model, which they say could result in more people dying as a result of the toxic drug supply. HART hubs will receive up to four times more funding than they did as supervised consumption sites, the provincial news release said. They will provide services including primary care, mental health services, addiction care and support and employment support. The hubs opening Tuesday are located in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Thunder Bay. The government is spending $550 million to create a total of 28 HART hubs across the province, the news release said. Sites closed despite injunction granted last week Last week, an Ontario judge granted an injunction to keep the 10 supervised consumption sites open while he considers a Charter challenge to the province's legislation. But a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Monday that the sites would still close. The province will withhold funding from any HART Hub that continues to provide supervised drug consumption services, spokesperson Hannah Jensen said. Even if supervised drug consumption sites located near schools and daycares are no longer forced to close, they may eventually close anyway if they don't have the provincial funds to keep operating, said Diana Chan McNally, a Toronto community worker and expert in harm reduction. The Charter challenge was launched by the Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention site in Toronto. The site is the only one of the 10 sites in the province that will remain open, as it operates on donations and is not provincially funded. More than 21,000 overdoses have been reversed at supervised consumption sites across the province since they became legal in 2019, court heard last week. The following centres are opening HART hubs on Tuesday. Toronto Public Health will also be creating a hub downtown: Guelph Community Health Centre Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre NorWest Community Health Centres (Thunder Bay) Somerset West Community Health Centre (Ottawa) Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo Parkdale Queen West (Toronto) Regent Park (Toronto) South Riverdale Community Health Centre (Toronto)
CBC
22-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
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."
CBC
03-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Ottawa spends over $3 million on mental health, addictions support in northwestern Ontario
The federal government is spending more than $3 million to support mental health and addictions outreach efforts in northwestern Ontario. Ya'ara Saks, federal minister of mental health and addictions and associate minister of health, made the announcement on Friday in Thunder Bay, Ont., at City Hall. The city has the highest opioid-related death rate in the province, according to the latest information from the Office of the Chief Coroner. At a rate of 78.16 deaths per 100,000 population in the first half of 2024, that's more than five times the provincial average of 15.7 deaths per 100,000 population. As the region's only supervised consumption site, Path 525, closes at the end of March in Thunder Bay, a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub is slated to open in its place. "I know how much this community cares about saving lives and being on the front and centre in northern Ontario of the overdose crisis in the illicit toxic drug supply that is harming so many communities," Saks said. "There's too many Canadians who lost their lives to this tragic and unrelenting public health crisis that has touched the lives of too many families, friends, neighbours and loved ones." More than $838,000 is going to the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northwestern Ontario (EFSNWO) through the Substance Use and Addictions Program. In addition, three other projects are getting funding from the Emergency Treatment Fund: $237,960 for the City of Thunder Bay and NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC) to expand mobile outreach services and create an encampment response team. $1,909,367 for Marten Falls First Nation to provide a mobile response unit for crisis outreach, counselling, culturally-relevant programming, and connections to treatment. $141,875 for Beendigen Inc. to purchase a community mobile unit to offer harm reduction services. In all, the Emergency Treatment Fund includes more than $11 million for 14 projects across Canada, Saks said. More than 350 project applications were received, over 70 per cent of which came from Indigenous communities. "Meeting people where they are at with programs and projects that make sense, that open doors, that help people when they need it in that moment," said Saks. "Because if it's not today that we help them, if it's not today that we don't talk, that we don't reach out to them, what will happen tomorrow?" Outreach work and on-site support Rilee Willianen, the city's encampment response lead, said the new encampment response team will allow the city to lead outreach efforts in tent communities, supporting its human rights based approach to homelessness. "[It] will connect with the folks who are living in the encampments and build relationships with them so eventually, they can be in a place to improve their circumstances," Willianen said. "This funding will help support us to do that, which will help us then to address encampments, which also then helps to address public health and public safety concerns." While a number of organizations provide support at the city's encampments already, Willianen said having the city partner with NWCHC allows it to expand its involvement in an effective and appropriate way. "One of our benefits as a smaller community is that we all work really well together, so this is just a further demonstration of how important it is to work together and to continue doing that work in a good way." As for the EFSNWO, executive director Lindsay Martin said the funding is supporting the operational costs of hiring more staff; namely, a substance use health co-ordinator, two full-time peer support workers and one part-time peer support worker. The organization supports women and gender-diverse people who are involved in the criminal justice system, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, mental health or addiction issues. The staff members will be situated at EFSNWO's transitional housing units to provide on-site support, Martin said. "It will be really impactful to help support the key population of those leaving incarceration and those who are unhoused and to be able to support them on their substance use journey in an alternative sort of non-clinical type of way," they explained. The organization takes a harm reduction approach to addiction, which means supporting people who are in active addiction by reducing the harms around substance use. Examples of this are providing new needles, sterile drug equipment, and naloxone kits which are used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. While the province has scaled back harm reduction with the upcoming closure of supervised consumption sites — as HART hubs will not allow supervised drug consumption, needle exchange or safer supply programs — Martin said it's an integral part of addiction services. "It's really key to be able to support them wherever they're at on their journey and not always directing somebody into a formatted, prescribed, forced recovery process when they're not necessarily ready," said Martin.
CBC
25-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ontario Votes 2025: Healthcare a priority among Chatham-Kent-Leamington candidates
Social Sharing The provincial electoral district of Chatham-Kent-Leamington includes the town of Leamington, the city of Chatham, and the large rural areas that comprise much of Kent County below the Thames River. At the time of the 2022 Ontario election, the riding had around 85,400 eligible voters. But only about 39,000 — less than 45 per cent — cast a ballot in the last election. Here's who's running, in alphabetical order: Matthew Davey - Green Party of Ontario After multiple requests by CBC Windsor, the Green Party of Ontario responded that Matthew Davey "is not able to take part in any interviews." The GPO website describes Davey as "an active businessman and family man" who was born and raised in the Waterloo region. Davey's social media indicates he is a realtor who lives and works in Cambridge. According to the GPO website, Davey envisions an economy that is both sustainable and equitable. A quote credited to Davey expresses optimism for a future where "our successes are based on the well-being of both ourselves and our environment." (Incumbent) Trevor Jones - PC Party of Ontario Trevor Jones, the incumbent MPP for Chatham-Kent-Leamington, was unavailable for an interview despite repeated requests by CBC Windsor. A Leamington native and a former OPP officer, Jones won the seat for the PC Party of Ontario in 2022. Prior to that, he was a municipal councillor for the Town of Leamington — appointed to a vacant seat on council in 2020. On social media, Jones said he and Doug Ford will "do whatever it takes to protect Ontario, our farmers, workers, businesses and communities" from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration. Rhonda Jubenville - New Blue Party of Ontario Born in Chatham-Kent, Rhonda Jubenville was elected Ward 4 councillor for that municipality in 2022. She's now entering provincial politics as a representative of the New Blue Party — a party that was formed in 2020 billing themselves as the "true blue conservatives" compared to Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party. Jubenville told CBC Windsor that her riding is concerned about a crisis of homelessness and mental health, a lack of affordable housing, and a healthcare system "in disarray." She said she would petition the province to "stand up for Chatham-Kent-Leamington," such as establishing a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub in the district. Jubenville added that she believes Ford is handling U.S. threats of a trade war "incorrectly" by being combative with the Trump administration. "I think we need to move the right way forward and perhaps abandon our legacy party system," Jubenville said. Bill Kirby - Ontario Liberal Party Bill Kirby lives and works in Cambridge as a business development manager in industrial sales. This election is his first foray into provincial politics. Kirby told CBC Windsor that while he is not a Chatham-Kent-Leamington resident, he has a branch office in the area. Asked why he's running, Kirby said he believes the Ford government has "completely abandoned the rural ridings. I want to make sure that the residents of Chatham-Kent-Leamington are listened to." He pointed to housing affordability and healthcare as the overarching concerns of the riding's population. According to Kirby, Chatham-Kent-Leamington is among the top 10 areas in Ontario with a deficiency in family doctors. "That is why the Liberals are committed to eliminating that deficit of family doctors within four years," Kirby pledged. Kirby said he knows Chatham-Kent-Leamington residents are also concerned about job security and affordability. "People are looking for the necessities of life." Christian Sachs - Ontario NDP A newcomer to provincial politics, Christian Sachs is the Ontario NDP candidate for Chatham-Kent-Leamington though she lives in the village of Granton, which is technically in the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex. Sachs was elected a trustee of the Thames Valley District School Board in 2022. She and her husband also have a professional wedding photography business. Sachs told CBC Windsor she's seeking the MPP seat because she resonates "very heavily with rural communities and agricultural spaces." According to Sachs, healthcare is the biggest concern for Chatham-Kent-Leamington residents. "Ensuring that our healthcare stays public," she emphasized. She noted that she was born and raised in Alaska. "I do know what privatization looks like. I really truly feel that Canadians should be more appreciative of what they have.," she said. "People need to be able to get access to a doctor, get care for themselves, and be able to afford life." Phillip St-Laurent - Ontario Party The Ontario Party did not respond to CBC Windsor's request to interview Phillip St-Laurent — their candidate for Chatham-Kent-Leamington. The party was founded in 2018 to offer a more conservative alternative to the Ontario PC Party, with "freedom, family, and faith" as its core values. In a social media video, St-Laurent said it's especially important to him to "put an end to the indoctrination in our schools." In the same post, the Ontario Party stated that St-Laurent "wants to protect kids from the insidious ideologies" in the current education system.
