After Ontario’s Bill 223 banned supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools, the province announced that Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs would replace them. But months after Peel Region’s only SCS shut down, the promised Brampton HART Hub has yet to open.
In a July 11 email, Peel Region confirmed they anticipate the site will launch in October.
The Brampton site — Peel Urgent Public Health Need Site — wasn’t located near a school, but it was forced to close under a separate provision of the law that bars municipalities from financially supporting or hosting supervised consumption services.
In a June 24 email from Canadian Mental Health Association Peel Dufferin — who will be running the Brampton HART Hub — they commented on the site currently not being operational.
“At this time, we are finalizing our implementation plan while awaiting final funding details from the province, which are necessary to move forward with operations,” said CMHA Peel Dufferin in an email.
When asked for more recent updates, as of July 15, they did not respond.
In a July 11 email, Ema Popovic — spokesperson for the Minister of Health — mentioned that nine HART Hubs have been opened across the province and that they are “continuing to work with the remaining HART Hubs”, including the Peel-Dufferin hub, “to finalize operational budgets as soon as possible.”
Though Brampton Guardian asked the ministry, from their perspective, when the Peel-Dufferin HART Hub was expected to open, they did not answer the question and provided no timeline. Brampton Guardian also questioned why the final funding had not been approved yet, to which they did not respond.
The ministry was also asked about what level of urgency the province was assigning to launching the Brampton site, given that no other regional alternative currently exists following the UPHNS closure, to which they also did not directly respond.
Despite both the CMHA Peel Dufferin and the Ministry of Health — two key partners in its launch — not providing clear timelines for its opening, Peel Region, meanwhile, told the Brampton Guardian that renovations for an October opening are expected to be completed in early fall.
“In the meantime, CMHA and its partners are mobilizing parts of the HART Hub model that can be put in place before the site officially opens,” they added in an email.
On June 26, regional council recently approved the three-year use of space at 10 Peel Centre Dr. — where the former SCS operated — to house the new HART Hub.
If the HART Hub indeed opens in October, this would mean a four month gap between when the Brampton SCS site closed and the new HART Hub opens — leaving drug users in Peel without access to either service in the mean time.
Where do drug users go now?
In their email, Peel Region mentioned Peel Public Health has been working with community partners to reduce substance related harms and overdoses by providing naloxone and expanding harm reduction outreach.
“This includes more service hours and an increased presence near the former supervised consumption site,” they note.
Additionally, they mention the Harm Reduction Program mobile program which offers a range of harm reduction services, including distribution of naloxone and referrals to community services such as mental health, income supports, and housing services.
Moyo Health and Community Services — who operated Brampton’s SCS site — said in an email that they continue to offer support to people who use drugs through their harm reduction van, outreach program, and satellite distribution programs.
“We distribute safe drug-taking supplies, including sterile needles and syringes, as well as naloxone. We offer people who use drugs education about safer drug use, overdose response, and refer individuals to needed services such as housing, income support, food, mental health and addictions support among other services,” said Jillian Watkins, executive director of MHCS.
They also provide support at shelters and encampments across the Region, and also provide education to service providers in the community about approaches to service provision using a harm reduction perspective.
SCS closure has left a dangerous gap, MHCS says
Despite this, MHCS said they “remain very concerned that individuals who previously used substances” at the SCS site, under medical supervision, no longer have the option.
“They are therefore more likely to use drugs alone or in high risk situations where they are at increased risk of overdose,” Watkins said. “They have also lost access to the other services that were available at the site from our community partners, including primary care, housing services, mental health and addictions services.”
She added that MHCS outreach team has reported to them that people who had been using the SCS feel the loss.
“They miss getting the wraparound supports that were offered and just having a safe place to be. Folks have reported that they are now forced to use in public spaces again and we’re getting reports of folks that have been overdosing since the site closed,” she added.
She also emphasized that, while the HART Hub services are dearly needed in the region, they are not an adequate replacement to supervised consumption services — both are needed.
In the meantime, they await the result of a charter challenge that seeks to overturn parts of Bill 223 — the provincial legislation that led to the shutdown of supervised consumption services across Ontario.
The case, filed by harm reduction service providers earlier this year, argues that the ban violates Charter rights to life, liberty, and security.
“We are awaiting a final ruling on the charter challenge […] so we can understand what our options are to seek funding to offer supervised consumption services in the Region of Peel at a future time,” said Watkins.
