Another health-related organization has joined the call for Ontario to backtrack on the decision to shut down supervised drug consumption sites in Ontario.
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), the organization that regulates nursing in the province, said recent actions by the Ontario Conservatives are a "sweeping attack" on the harm reduction efforts aimed at addressing the opioid crisis that affects so many municipalities.
This follows a similar position taken by the Ontario Nurses' Association earlier this week along with several other health care union locals saying that consumption sites are essential to a valid harm reduction approach to looking after people with addictions.
On Nov. 18, the Ontario government tabled a bill to close supervised consumption sites (SCS) located within 200 metres of a school or child care centre by March 31, 2025. At the same time, SCS facilities were forbidden from moving into new areas.
RNAO said this directive affects nine provincially funded sites in Ottawa, Guelph, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Kitchener, and Toronto, as well as one privately funded site in Toronto.
The nurses group further said that since 2017 these 10 sites have prevented approximately 8,500 overdose-related deaths.
"By choosing to close rather than relocate these services, the government is knowingly increasing the risk of preventable deaths and health-care costs, as highlighted by its own internal assessments," said the RNAO.
Sudbury is one of the Ontario communities that has been impacted by the Ontario decision. A supervised consumption site called The Spot was created at Energy Court off of Lorne Street, near the downtown.
That site was operated by Réseau ACCESS Network from September 2022 and operated through until the end of March in 2024.
The City of Greater Sudbury provided $1.1 million in funding to keep the facility open for just over a year, but the city did not maintain that funding. The city expected the province to provide funding to continue operating the consumption site because it was after all a health care facility.
Other organizations were able to provide partial funding, but with no support from the Ontario government the Sudbury site was shut down at the end of March, earlier this year.
Dr. Doris Grinspun, RNAO's CEO, has been an outspoken critic of the Conservative government's focus on crime reporting near remaining SCS sites while ignoring evidence provided by the police that shows there is less crime in communities with SCS than in those without these health and social services.
“While RNAO acknowledges the government's August announcement of $378 million for 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, it criticizes the exclusion of harm reduction services like SCS, safer supply programs, and needle exchanges. "HART Hubs should offer comprehensive, wrap-around care, but this plan falls short and contradicts the stated aim of keeping communities safe," said Grinspun.
