Ontario court to hear Charter challenge on supervised consumption site law

An Ontario court will hear arguments Monday from a Toronto supervised consumption site challenging the legality of a new provincial law.

An Ontario court will hear arguments Monday from a Toronto supervised consumption site challenging the legality of a new provincial law that will soon shut down 10 such sites and prevent new ones from opening.

The province passed legislation last year that banned consumption sites deemed too close to schools or daycares. The Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site in downtown Toronto, launched a lawsuit in December along with two people who use the space.

“Safe consumption sites are not a perfect solution, but they are part of the solution,” the group’s lawyer, Carlo Di Carlo, said in an interview.

“It’s something that will minimize deaths and the spread of infectious disease and that will allow people to continue their fight to recover. And so that’s what’s at stake for not only our individual applicants, but anybody else throughout Ontario who’s in that position.”

The group points to evidence that the 10 sites have never had a death and have reversed several thousand overdoses.

The province is moving to an abstinence-based treatment model. Ten consumption sites will cease operations by April 1, when new rules take effect banning them within 200 metres of schools and daycares under the Community Care and Recovery Act.

Nine of those consumption sites will be converted to homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs, or HART hubs as the province refers to them. Ontario has also approved 18 new hubs across the province.

The province is investing $529 million into the plan that includes 540 highly supportive housing units.