Latest news with #NeighbourhoodGroup
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Visits up at Toronto's remaining consumption sites, 2 months after province forced 4 to close
Social Sharing Toronto's remaining supervised consumption sites say they've gotten busier in the two months since the province forced four sites to close — part of a changing picture of drug use in the city as Ontario continues its move toward an abstinence-based treatment model. "We are seeing more people, and people are changing their behaviour," said Bill Sinclair, CEO of the Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site. Sinclair told CBC Toronto that that site has seen a 30 per cent uptick in visitors since April 1, when nine Ontario supervised drug consumption sites — four of them in Toronto — were forced to close under provincial legislation that prohibits sites from operating within 200 metres of a school or daycare. "People are using [drugs] differently," Sinclair said. "There's been a trend for a while of smoking rather than injecting, because of the perception that that is safer … people are doing their best to try to anticipate what a world might look like when the sites are not there." Fred Victor charity, which operates a supervised consumption site at Queen Street E. and Jarvis Street, has also clocked between 15 and 35 per cent more weekly visits. "It is stretching our staff to try to build the trusting relationships they've been trying to establish," said the charity's CEO Keith Hambly, adding that user numbers could go up even more after the summer months since some people are more inclined to use outdoors during warmer weather. Casey House, which runs a supervised consumption site for registered clients only, has seen a 25 per cent increase in its use, as well as more drug use outside of its facility — prompting it to extend its hours. Street Health on Dundas Street E. says it had 82 per cent more visits year-over-year in April, and 53 per cent more visits year-over-year in May, requiring more staff to be scheduled. Meanwhile, Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre says it hasn't seen a substantial increase in clientele post-closure, leading to concerns about the welfare of drug users that are no longer seeking out consumption sites. "We know some have used the Kensington site, and we are very concerned about what is happening for others we have not seen," wrote executive director Angela Robertson in an email. Leslieville 'a lot quieter,' say neighbours Meanwhile, people who live and work nearby what was one of the city's most scrutinized consumption sites say there's been a dramatic change since it closed. South Riverdale Community Health Centre made headlines in July 2023, when a woman named Karolina Huebner-Makurat was killed by a stray bullet while walking by. Since the consumption site closed, neighbour Derek Finkle — who was a vocal opponent of the site both before and after the shooting — says that the drug deals and open drug use he used to see on a regular basis has "virtually disappeared." "I've noticed there's nobody hanging around the fronts anymore. It's gotten a lot quieter," said Allen Malloy, owner of Daniel Jewellers on Queen Street E. "It's kind of like someone flipped a switch," said Nigel Fick, a co-owner of Culture Athletics, also on Queen. "When the site was open our business was significantly directly impacted," Fick said. "We had over $75,000 of theft and damages, and regular occurrences of dealing with theft and harassment inside the store." South Riverdale Community Health Centre declined a CBC News request for an interview. Ontario's new model As the city's drug users navigate the closure of consumption sites, there are still a number of unanswered questions as to how the new services that are available will impact drug use and overdose numbers. Of the 10 consumption sites mandated to close under the new provincial law, nine opted to take provincial money and transition into Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs, or HART hubs. The 10th, Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site, chose instead to take the Ford government to court over its legislation and is currently staying open thanks to a legal injunction and "fundraising like mad" to stay afloat, said Sinclair. The province said in a statement that all nine HART hubs were up and running by April 1, "ensuring the continuity of mental health support services" post-closure. WATCH | Health minister defends closures: Health minister defends decision to shut 5 safe drug consumption sites in Toronto 10 months ago Duration 6:46 Five supervised drug consumption sites are slated to close in Toronto after the provincial government announced a ban on such facilities near schools and child-care centres. CBC Metro Morning host Molly Thomas spoke to Health Minister Sylvia Jones about the changes. Advocates described "mass confusion" on the ground at the centres in early April, which received start-up funding from Ontario, but, according to the Ministry of Health, have yet to nail down finalized funding agreements with the government. Two months later, several of the HART hubs don't yet appear to have full slates of services up and running. At Toronto Public Health's HART hub, now running temporarily on the Esplanade, only one program of 10 is operational, with the rest planned to get underway this summer or beyond. Meanwhile, data suggests that overdoses are declining in Toronto and in Ontario more widely. According to data from Toronto Public Health, fatal and non-fatal opioid overdose calls are down in 2025 compared to the previous two years and continued to fall over the month of April. Hayley Thompson, the managing director of Toronto's Drug Tracking Service housed within St. Michael's Hospital, speculated in April that the decrease could be attributed to a decrease of the amount of fentanyl in the drug supply.
CBC
07-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Lawyers to return to court Monday in supervised consumption site legal challenge
In an unexpected move, an Ontario judge has asked lawyers to return to court Monday in the challenge to a new provincial law that bans supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares. The Neighbourhood Group, which runs a consumption site in downtown Toronto, took the province to court to argue the law violates the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because the sites save lives. The organization says Justice John Callaghan asked lawyers for all parties in the case to return to court this morning, though it was not told why. Callaghan recently heard arguments in the case and reserved judgment, saying it would likely take him several months to reach a decision about the law's constitutionality. But he granted an injunction allowing 10 sites that were set to close on April 1 to remain open until 30 days after he makes a decision in the case. The Neighbourhood Group's site stayed open but the nine others still closed down last week as part of planned conversions to government-approved homelessness and addiction recovery hubs. The province said in the wake of the injunction that it would withhold funding to the sites should they continue to offer supervised consumption services. The Progressive Conservative government's legislation, passed last year, banned supervised consumption sites it deemed too close to schools and daycares, citing the safety of neighbours, especially children.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
In the news today: Week 3 of the federal campaign kicks off
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed... Federal leaders enter week 3 of the election campaign With just three weeks to go until election day, Canada's federal party leaders are back on the road today. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is expected to make an announcement in Toronto today following weekend campaign stops on the East Coast, where he announced plans to impose national rent control and to get every Canadian access to a family doctor in the next five years. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is wrapping up a campaign sweep on the West Coast today before flying to Edmonton for a rally. Liberal Leader Mark Carney will spend the day in British Columbia, where he is scheduled to meet with B.C. Premier David Eby. World markets plunge after the big meltdown on Wall Street Shares nosedived around the world Monday as higher U.S. tariffs and a backlash from Beijing triggered massive sell-offs. European shares followed Asian markets lower, with Germany's DAX falling 6.5 per cent to 19,311.29. In Paris, the CAC 40 shed 5.7 per cent to 6,861.27, while Britain's FTSE 100 lost 4.5 per cent to 7,694.00. U.S. futures signalled further weakness ahead. The future for the S&P 500 lost 4.8 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 4.1 per cent. The future for the Nasdaq lost 5.3 per cent. On Friday, the worst market crisis since COVID slammed into a higher gear as the S&P 500 plummeted 6 per cent and the Dow plunged 5.5 per cent. Here's what else we're watching... Accused in fatal Quebec daycare bus crash in court The man accused of killing two children and injuring six others when the transit bus he was driving crashed into a Montreal-area daycare is back in Superior Court today. Both the Crown and defence are expected to argue at the Laval, Que., courthouse that he was not criminally responsible for his actions. Prosecutor Karine Dalphond told the court in February that the Crown and defence would present the facts of Pierre Ny St-Amand's case jointly, after two experts independently concluded he should not be held criminally responsible due to a mental disorder. The 53-year-old was arrested after the city bus he was driving crashed into the front of a daycare in Laval on Feb. 8, 2023, killing a four-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. Ontario consumption site case back in court today In an unexpected move, an Ontario judge has asked lawyers to return to court today in the challenge to a new provincial law that bans supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares. The Neighbourhood Group, which runs a consumption site in downtown Toronto, took the province to court to argue the law violates the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because the sites save lives. The Neighbourhood Group's site stayed open but the nine others still closed down last week as part of planned conversions to government-approved homelessness and addiction recovery hubs. Edmonton man to have piece of skull replaced Not many people are able to say they can actually feel their brain, but Chase Delorme-Rowan can even see it pulsing. That's because a piece of the Edmonton man's skull was mistakenly tossed away during a brain surgery on Jan. 15. The day before, he cracked his skull from top to bottom after he was slammed to the ground in the Dominican Republic during a family trip to celebrate his 18th birthday. Delorme-Rowan says doctors on the Caribbean island removed a piece of his skull to give his swollen brain room to heal but didn't put the piece back. He says Edmonton doctors will replace the missing skull piece later this month with plastic or titanium. Canadian company claims first space X-ray As four space tourists orbited the north and south poles earlier this month and marvelled at views of the Earth, a group of Canadians celebrated an X-ray image taken aboard the spacecraft. Amol Karnick, the CEO of the Waterloo, Ontario-based KA Imaging says the image is the first X-ray ever done in space, marking a first for Canadians in space. The three-and-a-half day trip of the SpaceX Dragon Capsule was chartered by bitcoin investor Chun Wang and blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on March 31 with three others aboard. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2025. The Canadian Press
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
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
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)
