Province cancels extension of ‘life-saving’ safe consumption site in Brampton, region says

Plans to keep a safe consumption site open that’s seen hundreds of patients and helped save lives in Brampton are being scrapped by the Ontario PC government under new legislation, the Region of Peel says.

Last year, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the province was banning any safe consumption site from operating within 200 metres of child care centres and schools, while also implementing new requirements for existing locations.

Premier Doug Ford has been an outspoken critic of the centres citing concerns around safety, despite admitting last year he’d never visited one.

And while the Urgent Public Health Need Site in Brampton was initially going to be spared under the new Community Care and Recovery Act, the Region of Peel now says the facility will be shuttered next month.

A report to regional council shows that centre operators Moyo Health and Community Services were informed on Feb. 10 that the safe consumption site at 10 Peel Centre Drive will be closed on March 31.

“A transition period of sixty days commencing April 1, 2025, is required to support service users with referrals to supports and services and to complete the year-one evaluation,” the report reads.

Regional staff were verbally told in January that funding for the centre under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act would only last until the end of March and “would need to cease operations for drug checking and supervised consumption services” by March 31.

The location on Peel Centre Drive in Brampton will have only been open for a little over a year when the closure comes into place.

The region says it has delivered services to over 210 unique visitors with over 760 total visits for “life-saving intervention” including supervised consumption and drug checking services, clinical care, on-site supports for housing, childcare, and mental health.

It also offers primary health services and drug testing, as well as referrals to other support services for housing, mental health and additions treatment, and harm reduction teaching.

In 2022, Regional Council unanimously endorsed the interim Urgent Public Health Need Site with funding of $5.8 million up to 24 months or until provincial funding could be secured.

As of last year, a total of $1.2 million has been funded from the region’s reserves and the report says there is “adequate funding” left in the pilot project budget until the March 31 deadline and the 60-day winddown period.

“The 2025 costs are projected to be $0.51 million and any unspent funds from the original pilot budget will remain in the reserve,” the report reads.

The report will go to Region of Peel Council on Thursday where several representatives from Moyo Health and Community Services, the Peel Alliance to End Homelessness and Peel Poverty Action Group are scheduled to speak to the closure.

Ten other safe consumption sites in Ontario have also been ordered to close no later than March 31 under the new provincial rules, including five in Toronto, and one each in Ottawa, Kitchener, Thunder Bay, Hamilton and Guelph.

The region says drug toxicity is a growing concern in Peel with 705 death due to opioid toxicity between 2019 and 2023.

Another 70 opioid-related deaths were reported between January and September 2024, adding to “increasing strain on local emergency services with 574 opioid-related emergency department visits and 93 opioid-related hospitalizations in 2023.”

– With files from Ryan Rocca