New zoning restrictions may force closure of Ontario’s safe injection sites

The Canadian Press / Frank Gunn

Ontario has unveiled new zoning restrictions that may force the closure of most safe injection sites in the province. After March 31, 2025, sites must be at least 200 metres from a school or child-care centre.

Ten of the province's 17 regulated facilities risk closure, including five in Toronto, reported the Toronto Star. They require an exemption to the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act granted by Health Canada.

The Public Health Agency granted British Columbia a subsection 56(1) exemption last January 31 for three years under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to decriminalize people who possessed up to 2.5 grams of heroin, crack, cocaine, fentanyl, MDMA and meth.

From February 1, 2023, to May 7, 2024, overdose deaths totalled 3,313 on the West Coast, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. That surpassed the 2,843 deaths recorded in the 15 months before decriminalization, a 16.5% increase.

Since April 2016, drug overdoses have killed nearly 14,000 people in B.C. and over 32,000 people nationwide. Health Canada blamed fentanyl for the overwhelming majority (76%) of those deaths. 

According to preliminary figures released by Toronto Public Health, 523 people died from opioid toxicity in the city in 2023. That marks a 74% increase from 301 deaths in 2019. 

“I’ll be very frank, I’m not sold on these safe injection sites that are in neighbourhoods and needles are all flowing around—it’s a haven for drug dealers,” Premier Doug Ford said in Thunder Bay earlier this month.

“Let’s get these people the support they need and build more detox beds and I know our ministers will be making announcements shortly regarding that,” he said on August 9.

At Health Committee, Liberal MP tries to attack Alberta's addictions minister on overdose increases after Alberta rejected Trudeau's safe supply policies. @DanWilliamsALTA says that despite Alberta unwillingly being forced into an integrated illegal drug market thanks to a safe… pic.twitter.com/aPSMrKMhXq

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) June 7, 2024

A Health Canada response to a parliamentary inquiry unveiled the federal government would spend $27 million funding 22 “safe supply” sites this year across B.C. and Ontario. 

However, B.C. Premier David Eby, an advocate for drug decriminalization, walked back his support for federal “safe supply” after heralding complaints of public disorder.

“It’s not only a problem for police, but it’s a problem for everybody who lives here and sees the cause and effects of this continuing to happen,” said Corp. Jennifer Cooper, an RCMP spokesperson.

The office of Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks office did not cite any data to explain the increase in overdose deaths. “This is an extremely complex health crisis,” said the note Criticism That The Exemption Is Leading To More Overdose Deaths.

“Provinces across the country using a variety of strategies are also experiencing significant and tragic increases in overdose deaths,” said the note. 

Minister Saks earlier claimed criticism of “safe supply” drugs is rooted in “stigma and fear” from the Official Opposition. “Let's have the conversation so that we can see those who are most vulnerable in our communities, and understand how they got there,” she said.

Conservative MPs have advocated repeal of the “safe supply” drug policy. “These programs are a failure,” MP Garnett Genuis told a May 15 hearing of the Commons government operations committee.

According to in-house Privy Council research, most Canadians oppose the “safe supply” policy. “Participants were mostly negative,” said a 2023 report Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians’ Views.

Asked about opioid addiction, British Columbians in federal focus groups called it a major worry.

Alberta's addictions minister, @DanWilliamsALTA, tells the Health Committee that his letters to the feds are being ignored.
Williams explains how Trudeau's so-called safe supply of hard drugs to addicts is diverted to gangs.
Wants chemical traceability measures in place so… pic.twitter.com/7Nohse0ivb

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) June 7, 2024

“At first I thought it was just sort of a naïve Utopianism that was driving this idea of giving out free drugs and decriminalizing these poisons,” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said March 8. “But now the evidence is so clear that it has been a nightmare.”

“You have to ask yourself, what is motivating this policy?”

The Commons last May 29 upheld the “safe supply” policy by a 209 to 113 vote. Poilievre sponsored a counter-motion to “redirect all funds from … hard drug programs to addiction treatment and recovery programs” that did not pass.

The Trudeau government has committed more than $1 billion to address overdose fatalities since 2017, according to a December 2023 update detailing federal actions. This included more than $359.2 million allocated in Budget 2023 over five years for the renewed Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy (CDSS).