Latest news with #Path525
CBC
12-06-2025
- Health
- CBC
Drug analyzer goes mobile in Thunder Bay, Ont., in wake of consumption site's closure
Social Sharing Before Justin Gill began working at NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), he thought fentanyl was the most toxic substance impacting drug users in Thunder Bay, Ont. But he was wrong. Using the organization's drug analyzer machine, he found traces of carfentanil — which is 100 times stronger than fentanyl — and nitazenes in the substances people brought in. "That was very alarming," he said. "People think they're getting one thing but there's multiple things in their substance that can kill them in very small amounts." The Thunder Bay district continues to have the highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario, at nearly five times the provincial average. Meanwhile, the region's only supervised consumption site — Path 525 — closed at the end of March due to new provincial rules about how close sites can be to schools and childcare settings. NWCHC, which operated Path 525, is now the lead partner for a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub in town. However, unlike supervised consumption sites, these hubs do not allow drug consumption, safer supply or needle exchange programs. In order to continue operating its drug analyzer machine, NWCHC sought a federal exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The organization received support from the City of Thunder Bay to get the program up and running through the Emergency Treatment Fund. This week, the organization launched a new mobile outreach van, which has been retrofitted to allow the machine to be used on board. People think they're getting one thing but there's multiple things in their substance that can kill them in very small amounts. - Justin Gill, harm reduction support worker "It tells you exactly every single thing that's in there," said Gill, who formerly worked at Path 525 and is now a harm reduction support worker for the mobile outreach van. "When people come to test their substances, I don't know whose it is or why they're testing it, right? But for whatever reason it is, everybody deserves to know." Increasingly toxic drug supply Juanita Lawson, executive director of NWCHC, said the organization was already looking into offering mobile drug checking services before Path 525's closure. "One of the exciting things we'll be able to do is to go to locations in the city, make it — we're hoping — more accessible for individuals who might not have come into our program," Lawson said. "Then also going to events such as music festivals or going to locations in the city where we know people might be using substances, and making sure they have access." The drug checking machine uses Raman laser technology to scan substances, conducting either trace scans of small samples or bulk scanning through a clear bag. "It only needs a tiny amount, so I'm not going to be taking a big chunk of the supply from the client," Gill said. NWCHC posts summaries of its drug tests online to let the community know what's in the street supply. In January, about 63 per cent of the substances tested were not what clients expected. The more toxic a substance is, the more difficult it is to reverse the effects of an overdose caused by its consumption, Lawson said. By educating people about what's in the substances they have, this allows them to make an informed choice about whether they want to consume them, she said, which in turn can reduce overdose rates and ease the strain on the community's emergency medical services. "Our workers who are on the bus will be able to do some health teaching about how to maybe use smaller doses or potentially not use that substance at all," Lawson said. Building trust with clients A key part of the program's success is the outreach workers on board, who are able to build a rapport with people who use drugs in the community. "We know our outreach workers … can develop safe, trusting relationships with individuals that come in, no questions asked," Lawson said. "We just want people to be safe and we want to also provide them some resources that they might need to navigate to other services." Long-time advocate Kyle Arnold is more than six years into recovery from addiction and a well-known figure in Thunder Bay's recovery community. He is now a community support worker specializing in addiction for Long Lake #58 First Nation. "I think that it's so vital to have outreach and outreach [from] people with lived experience, because at the end of the day, we are very aware of how to deal with those sort of situations," Arnold said. His hope is that the mobile outreach van helps bridge the gap in services resulting from Path 525's closure, he said. "It adds a lot of safety to the community of drug users," said Arnold. NWCHC is continuing to use the free LifeguardConnect app to issue alerts about toxic substances in the community. The app includes information about opioids and addiction services. For those consuming substances alone, they can use the app to set a timer, which will alert emergency medical services of their location if it's not turned off — signalling a potential overdose. The mobile outreach van is operating Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., though NWCHC is seeking feedback on how it can be expanded going forward. A map will be posted to its site soon of the route the van will take and where people can find it.
CBC
03-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Ottawa to spend over $3M on mental health, addictions support in northwestern Ontario
Funding split across 4 projects in region The federal government says it will spend 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." $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 involved in the criminal justice system, many of whom are experiencing homelessness, mental health or addiction issues. The staff members will be 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. "It's not about what a government's looking for. It's not a public health directive. It's individual."
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.
