Thunder Bay's safe drug use site 'not just a place to come get high,' says client amid Ontario closure fallout

For years, Michael Baker has been a client at Path 525, the only safe drug consumption site in Thunder Bay, Ont., and says staff there have saved his life over a dozen times.

Baker is also a volunteer at the site and says he's helped saved the lives of a dozen people who've overdosed by using naloxone kits provided by Path 525. 

News this week that Path 525 — along with nine other safe consumption sites in the province — will close next year has left him devastated.

"It's not just a place [for] safe injection. It's not just a place to come get high. It's the hub, I guess, of Thunder Bay's harm reduction network," said Baker, who has been without a permanent home for several years and lives in a tent.

"It's a place to get referrals to other programs."

Path 525, which is run by NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), opened in 2018. Last summer, Ontario launched a "critical incident review" of all safe consumption sites following a fatal shooting of a woman near one in Toronto.

Juanita Lawson, chief executive officer of NorWest, said the province never shared the results of Path 525's review with her team.

"We did complete, as an organization, a comprehensive community safety audit last fall, and have been implementing some of those changes that were required and requested or recommended," Lawson said.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Tuesday that the province is banning SCS within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres, forcing five in Toronto and five in other individual cities to close by March 31, 2025. Path 525 is located around the corner from Ogden Community Public School.

The news has been met with much criticism, as documents show the closures go against the advice of the province's own experts.

Lawson said she's disappointed the services her team has been offering for years — and the clients who rely on them — "are really being stigmatized."

"We know there's significant pressure on the community, but we also know that the consumption and treatment service is not the cause of the ills that are taking place," she said.

Staff reversed 365 overdoses at Path 525 between 2021 and the first half of 2024, said Lawson.

Last month, there were 1,266 visits by people accessing food, showers, housing support and supplies. A total of 318 people went there for safe drug consumption and 135 people were provided primary health care, she said.