Despite injunction, advocates worry Ontario drug consumption sites risk closing without funding

Harm reduction workers and advocates are celebrating a court injunction that will temporarily keep 10 supervised drug consumption sites in Ontario from closing but say they fear for their long-term future if the province refuses to fund them.

On Friday, an Ontario judge said all sites slated to close under a new provincial law by April 1 can remain open while he considers a Charter challenge of the legislation that bans the sites from operating within 200 metres of schools or daycare centres.

However, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the ruling doesn't change the province's plans.

"Provincial funding for HART Hubs cannot be used for drug injection services and will be contingent on the organization not seeking to continue those services," Hannah Jensen said in a statement on Friday, referring to new centres to help people who are homeless and aid in addiction recovery.

That means some sites may not have the funds to keep operating, at least not at the same level, even if they won't be forced to close by the province for now, said Diana Chan McNally, a Toronto community worker and expert in harm reduction.

"Unfortunately, one way or another, even though we are not illegal at this moment, it does mean that we will most likely lose services," she said. 

McNally said the province's shift toward an abstinence-based treatment model won't address the toxic drug problem that is killing people who aren't coping with addiction.

"People who don't have addictions are also dying as a result of toxic drugs," she said.

"We're talking about kids who are using for the first time. We're talking about people who are going out at night, people who use casually, and they're not being factored in."

Ontario announced shift in dealing with opioid crisis

The challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was launched by the Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site in downtown Toronto.

That site is funded through donations, but the organization's CEO, Bill Sinclair, said he worries about other locations that have relied on provincial funding.

"That is a challenge, that without funding some sites wouldn't be able to continue even if they are allowed to by law," he said. "In our case at least, the law is not stopping us. It's just a case of us having to continue to fundraise to stay open."

Last summer, the health minister announced a fundamental shift in the province's approach to the deadly and decade-long opioid crisis. The new rules, which prevent the operation of sites within a certain distance of schools and daycares, mean 10 sites out of 23 across the province would have to close.

As part of the new approach, the province is funding 18 new Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs, or HART Hubs, in addition to the nine supervised consumption sites that agreed to become HART Hubs rather than face imminent closure.

Some supervised consumption sites in the province have already closed and are transitioning to HART Hubs at the start of next month. They include sites at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood and the Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa. 

Court's decision 'speaks to the strength of the evidence' 

In his decision granting the injunction, Justice John Callaghan of the Superior Court of Justice said the harm to users of the sites that could result from closures outweighed the harm to the public on a time-limited basis while he considers the Charter challenge.

"It is foreseeable that many more will overdose, and some of those will die," he wrote.

"Exempting the existing [supervised consumption sites] will have a substantial public benefit of preventing serious health risks and deaths which, in my view, outweighs the harm caused by the continued public disorder."

Sandra Ka Hon Chu, executive director of the HIV Legal Network, one of the interveners in the case, said she was pleased to see the judge recognize that the closures could cause irreparable harm.

"I think it's certainly promising. I think it speaks to the strength of the evidence in the case," she said.

Although the Charter challenge doesn't address funding for supervised consumption sites, Chu said she hopes a favourable decision would push the Ontario government to reconsider its position.

"I do think ... it's very persuasive to a government or to the public if a judge recognizes that the 200-metre rule, which will close the sites, will cause people to die. The fact that you defund them and cause them to die, it's the same outcome," she said.

In his decision on the injunction, Callaghan said all sites slated to close under the new law by April 1 can remain open until 30 days after he decides the case.