While city officials were at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Ottawa this week, pitching a variety of ideas meant to help solve addictions issues in Orillia, the provincial government announced a ban on new supervised consumption sites along with $378 million in funding for treatment centres officials say the city is unlikely to see.
Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford, joined by Coun. Whitney Smith, CAO Gayle Jackson and deputy CAO Amanpreet Singh Sidhu, had a meeting with the associate minister of mental health and addictions, Michael Tibollo, presenting a case for a variety of harm-reduction and treatment services for Orillia.
Initially developed by the city’s opioid crisis working group, city officials requested the government establish a framework and allocate funding for the following services:
- Co-ordinating access to treatment, harm-reduction, and mental health services;
- Orillia-based detox services and beds, and publicly funded addiction treatment services;
- Expanding harm-reduction services in the city through measures like supervised consumption sites; and
- Expanding the scope and accessibility of mental health and counselling services.
City officials also shared plans to create a community hub, or community connection centre, in Orillia.
“We also said to him, ‘We are trying to create that service in Orillia, and we need funding for that, and our government is asking you, our municipal government is asking the province, for funding,’” said Durnford. “We know that’s a need. We’ve gone through that process. We’ve identified that need.”
Durnford shared an experience where a family friend, despite community and family support, could not get clean in Orillia, as there were no formal detox services available in the city and the existing system was confusing to navigate.
“When he got very sick with an infection and was admitted to hospital, the physicians at Soldiers’ were kind enough to keep him long enough to detox him, on the pretext of keeping him for his infection,” she said. “That’s what we’re dealing with. It’s this mishmash of services that nobody knows how to access, nobody knows where to refer people.”
Although Tibollo was “very empathetic” and understood the situation in Orillia, Durnford said he “certainly didn’t make any promises” before the group returned to town.
During the conference, the province announced funding to create 19 homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hubs across the province — where no needle exchanges, safe supply, or supervised consumption will be offered — while also banning supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or childcare centres and blocking new ones from opening.
“I'm absolutely thrilled to see the province investing in treatment. However, it’s not localized, and we were asking for that hyperlocal solution, a framework and funding,” Durnford said. “Nineteen HART hubs across the province is a start, but we need local services in small urban municipalities as well.”
Durnford was not as thrilled, however, with the announcement on supervised consumption sites.
“I hear over and over and over from people who are immersed in that work that evidence-based practice says harm reduction saves lives, and, frankly, people can’t get treatment if they are dead,” she said.
“It’s not about enabling. It’s not about providing free substances to people. It is about a safe supply, because the drug supply is toxic. So, safe supply, needle exchange, supervised consumption — these are the things that keep people alive.”
She noted there “wasn’t a lot of applause” in the room, and recalled an Ottawa city councillor being baffled by the ban on supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres.
“The harm-reduction site in her ward is one of the ones that is going to be closed, and she spoke really passionately about that,” Durnford said. “The same service organization runs a childcare centre and the harm-reduction site on the same property, and they’re distanced geographically, but it works.”
The government also conflated crime statistics with drug use during the announcement, Durnford said, a “politically expedient” move she found dishonest by using “downtown crime statistics to stigmatize harm reduction.”
As the announcement was leaked prior to being officially shared, Durnford also said there was a protest outside the conference centre.
Opioid-related deaths continue to ravage Ontario communities, with a 64 per cent spike in mortality rates over 2019 levels, and nearly 10 deaths occurring across the province each day.
The province’s move away from supervised consumption sites — also known as consumption and treatment services — has “deeply saddened” mental health officials in Simcoe County.
Public overdoses are 10 times more likely to require hospital admission than overdoses at supervised consumption sites, which reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, said Dr. Jennifer Fillingham, interim CEO with the Simcoe County branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
“Evidence shows that harm reduction, in its various forms, is crucial for helping individuals stay alive and is an essential part of a comprehensive continuum of care that includes bed-based treatment, addiction counselling, peer support, housing, and other wraparound services,” she said. “We sincerely hope the province will consider integrating harm-reduction strategies within the new hub models they are proposing.”
