9 Ontario supervised consumption sites to close despite injunction, minister says

Nine Ontario supervised consumption sites will close Tuesday as planned, the provincial government said Monday, despite a recent court injunction allowing them to remain open temporarily.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted the injunction Friday while a judge reviews a constitutional challenge of a provincial law that bans sites from operating within 200 metres of schools or daycares. The law takes effect on Tuesday.

Only one out of 10 sites slated for closure is poised to stay open. Nine agreed to become new homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs, or HART hubs as the province calls them.

They will receive about four times as much money as they did under a previous funding model — but they will not be allowed to offer supervised drug consumption services.

"The nine transitioning HART hubs are opening April 1 as planned, ensuring the continuity of mental health support services when drug injection sites close on March 31," said Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

"All nine hubs have received startup funding and the ministry will continue to work with them to finalize their operational budgets by mid-April."

Late Friday, Justice John Callaghan said all sites that were slated for imminent closure could remain open until 30 days after he decides the case, finding that the potential harm to drug users should the sites close outweighed the risk of public disorder nearby.

Shortly after the decision, Jones's office told The Canadian Press the province would move forward with an abstinence-based treatment model as part of the new law, which also bans the distribution and collection of needles and other drug paraphernalia.

The Neighbourhood Group and two people who use its consumption site, the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site, had taken the province to court last December, alleging the law violates both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution.

They argued in court last week that the law violates the right to life, liberty and security of the person.

The Kensington Market site, which will remain open, does not receive provincial funding and will not transition into a HART Hub — so it is not handcuffed like the other sites, said CEO Bill Sinclair.

"More than 21,000 overdoses have been reversed in the last five years at all these sites, and collectively across the province, many lives are saved and people are walking around now because our doors were open," Sinclair said.

"So we're glad to be able to continue to provide life-saving services."

One of two sites run by the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Sites will also close for good on Monday night, despite the organization celebrating the court injunction last week.