Until the Ontario government steps up and provides funding for the supervised drug consumption site in Sudbury, the burden of paying for that facility will continue to be picked up at the expense of local taxpayers in Sudbury, said Sudbury MPP Jamie West this week.
The Ontario government does provide operational funding to drug consumption sites in several other Ontario cities. The funding for the Sudbury site is so far provided mainly by the municipality.
Both West and Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas took part in the public hearings held by the Queen's Park Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, held in Sudbury on Monday.
They also spoke to reporters just before the hearings began to outline local concerns.
Both West and Gélinas said if the Ontario government has any concern at all about the opioid crisis in Sudbury it should provide funding for the new supervised consumption site that was opened last summer.
The site is located at Energy Court behind the Lorne Street Beer Store.
West said he was concerned that the province has yet to step up and provide funding for the Sudbury site. West said the concern is that Sudbury, for the longest time, had the highest per capita number of opioid overdose deaths in Ontario, which was only recently surpassed by Thunder Bay.
"We have a huge opioid problem here in Sudbury. It is one we have been talking about for a long time," said West.
When asked why the province has not yet stepped forward with actual funding Gélinas said it is because the provincial government is stonewalling and refuses to recognize how serious the opioid problem is in the North, even though the federal government gave permission to open the Sudbury site, thereby waiving any legal objection to using illicit substances.
Gélinas said the province appears to be deliberately stalling.
"It's an active decision of the Government of Ontario, which does not believe in supervised consumption sites, which does not believe that addiction is a disease," said Gélinas. “There are many within their party who push us back. You're not allowed to open until the federal government gives you permission to open. We've got all of the permissions.
“What's needed is the money. And the (Ontario) government is reluctant to give us the money because there are people within the Conservative Party who believe that addiction is a choice.”
So far, the City of Greater Sudbury has provided more than $1 million from the municipal treasury. Other donations have included $100,000 from Vale and $30,000 from Wheaton Precious Metals.
Gélinas said there are eight supervised consumption sites in Ontario that do get funding, mostly in larger cities in Southern Ontario. She said currently there is a cap on funding new consumption sites but added there are several communities that need them and want them.
West said in recent years, the province has made it harder for consumption sites to open which he blamed on regulatory hurdles.
"And the standing line they had for a long time was, they were opening one in Thunder Bay, and that was adequate,” said West.
“That's ridiculous. You can't even drive to Thunder Bay and back in a day. So how would that service the North?" said West.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
