EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article was initially posted on the Local Journalism Initiative news wire on November 21, YGKnews.ca was undergoing site maintenance
Sydenham District Councillor Conny Glenn is among 41 municipal city councillors who signed an open letter requesting the Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) rescind an open letter calling for the use of the notwithstanding clause, and instead explore “evidence-based solutions to homelessness.”
Glenn said on Tuesday that councillors who signed the letter are concerned that using the notwithstanding clause is overreach from the provincial government, and that not all options have been exhausted to get to that point.
She says at the end of the day, its not a practical route if it’s actually about helping people, and will take a lot more expense and work than is being communicated by the province or the OBCM.
“Even if you use the notwithstanding clause the simple reality is that we do not have the resources available to house and treat people,” Glenn said.
“This is not as simple as it’s painted out that ‘hey, we’ll just sweep everybody up and take care of it’. It doesn’t work that way.”
Glenn says councillors were also concerned that the letter was sent based on the suggestion of Doug Ford.
While Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson was not a signatory of the letter from OBCM, he is a member of the group and has said he remains in support of everything the OBCM is asking for.
On the same day the letter came out, the Ontario government tabled The Safer Streets, Stronger Communities Act, which takes aim at supervised consumption sites, among other changes to enforcement and road laws.
The legislation would close any supervised consumption site that is within 200 metres of a school or any child care centre, and would also require municipalities to get permission from the province in order to open new sites.
While the legislation doesn’t explicitly ban them in the province, it does insert itself in between municipalities and the federal government for exceptions in order to run the sites.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones has also told reporters, plainly, that no more supervised consumption sites will be opened under the oversight of the Ford government.
As an alternative, the provincial government will open intensive addiction recovery HART hubs, 19 of which are set to be opened in the province under a $378 million budget.
Dr. Piotr Oglaza, KFL&A Public Health’s Medical Officer of Health, said the HART hubs could be an effective tool in helping to meet people where they are in their recovery journey, but that supervised consumption sites also play a significant role in the current landscape.
“Harm reduction programs and services such as supervised consumption sites, safer supply programs, and needle syringe programs have demonstrated many health and social benefits,” Dr. Oglaza said in a statement.
“Harm reduction is based off a set of internationally recognized, evidence-based strategies that reduce deaths and unsafe drug-use behaviours, prevent certain infectious diseases and lessen the burden on emergency departments. It is a pillar of KLF&A’s comprehensive approach, and focuses on mitigating the adverse health, social and economic consequences of substance use without requiring people to stop using substances as a precondition for support.”
Dr. Oglaza also noted that the Integrated Care Hub won’t among those sites forced to close due to proximity to a school or childcare facility, however it will have to adhere to enhanced mandatory reporting requirements, transparency and safety procedures if the bill passes.
Councillor Glenn said encampments and supervised consumption sites are symptoms of the problem, which still aren’t being addressed sufficiently in proposals coming from the province.
“What we’re likely to see then is instead of people going to one site that’s safe for consumption, people will be out in our parks and other public places potentially doing this,” Glenn said.
“If we had followed up safe consumption sites with provision of more spots for treatment, more housing for people, we would see that we were making progress, but we haven’t done that in sufficient quantity to get the headway that we actually need.”
She added that until more comprehensive solutions are created for those using supervised consumption sites or living in encampments, they’re an unfortunate necessity.
“I don’t want encampments, I don’t want to have to have safe consumption sites. It’s an unfortunate reality that we’re in that they exist,” Glenn said.
“What I want is the proper funding for us to be able to end them and that’s not what we’re getting, and trying to force people into treatment that doesn’t exist makes no sense.”
