Ontario to end funding for 7 supervised drug consumption sites, province confirms

The Ontario government has confirmed it is cutting provincial funding for seven supervised drug consumption sites, days after harm reduction advocates said they were notified of the decision.

The province says it will initiate a 90-day wind-down period to give those using the sites time to transition to the government's abstinence-based model — homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs.

It says the move affects two sites in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one each in Niagara, Peterborough and London.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones said in a statement Monday that the government is "focused on treatment, recovery and safer communities."

Advocacy groups said they learned of the decision late Friday, but the Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comment at the time.

A letter from the ministry to the Fred Victor Centre, one of the two Toronto sites, said its provincial funding for consumption and treatment services would end as of June 13.

The centre is "deeply disappointed" by the government's decision to end funding for remaining supervised consumption sites, its CEO said Friday.

Keith Hambly said in a statement that the services the sites provide "save lives and connect vulnerable people to essential health and social services."

Janet Butler-McPhee, co-executive director of the HIV Legal Network, called the province's decision to pull funding a "cowardly move" that will put lives at risk.

Two years ago, the government banned supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of a school or daycare, targeting 10 sites across the province for closure by the end of March 2025.

Most of those sites chose to convert to HART hubs.

The province also banned new sites from opening.

Speaking to reporters at an unrelated news conference Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said supervised consumption sites encourage drug use, and are not wanted in the communities where they are located.

“It’s like giving an alcoholic a card for the LCBO and saying, ‘OK, go in there and go to town,’” he said. “I don’t want to hurt these people. I want to help them.”