Barrie was part of provincewide vigil Tuesday afternoon to save Ontario’s supervised consumption sites (SCS).
Also scheduled for Guelph, Hamilton, Ottawa, Timmins and Toronto, the vigil attracted a small audience to the Barrie City Hall Rotunda.
Barrie resident Ashley Pineau, wearing a shirt that said ‘Nice People Take Drugs,’ said organizations from across the province are coming together and standing up for people’s rights.
“Safe consumption sites save lives,” she said. “It’s proven over and over and over and over and over again. Safe consumption sites are a support for people who are betrayed by the system and are working to get their lives back.”
The vigil was part of a provincial day of action, which called on the next Ontario government to reverse the closures of what advocates say are life-saving supervised consumption services amidst the toxic drug crisis.
Just days ahead of Thursday’s Ontario election, communities across the province held vigils to commemorate the lives lost and demand the next Ontario government end its opposition to SCS.
The provincial day of action comes weeks ahead of the planned closures of 10 supervised consumption sites. Despite significant public outcry, the Ontario Progressive Conservative government has indicated it will not support the SCS services.
Rev. Christine Nayler is the co-founder and director of Ryan’s Hope, which she started in memory of her son following his death from a toxic drug overdose in 2020.
She hopes the ‘Save Our Sites’ vigil will have some effect on election day.
“That’s the reason we’re doing this, encouraging people to use their power, which is their vote, to vote for the type of province they want to live in,” Nayler said. “These sites are saving lives and closing them is going to cost lives.
“Why do I think the Ontario government is doing this? They value certain lives over others and they consider people who use drugs, that their lives are disposable, and they’re not valuable," she added.
Nayler said governments use people like pawns to win votes.
“There is so much stigma around people who use drugs,” she said. “They’re villainizing people and it’s going to cost people’s lives.”
Candles were lit, songs were played and poems were read at Tuesday’s vigil.
Nayler encouraged people to cast their ballots Thursday.
“The vote is the most precious non-violent act you can take,” she said. “Every vote matters.”
Last June, after two-and-a-half years of silence from the province about funding for a proposed SCS in Barrie, local health officials withdrew the application.
Applications for what the province refers to as a Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) facility at 11 Innisfil St., near the city’s downtown, were submitted to Health Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Health on Oct. 7, 2021, by the Simcoe County branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).
The Barrie proposal was endorsed by the previous city council in June 2021.
The application was approved at the federal level through the granting of an exemption to a section of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) on Sept. 9, 2022. It was renewed in September 2023.
However, local health officials say despite several requests, there was no response from the Ontario Ministry of Health, which would have been responsible for funding capital and operating costs.
Dr. Valerie Grdisa, who was CMHA Simcoe County's CEO, said this lack of a response prompted it to make the decision to withdraw the Barrie location application. The organization was uncomfortable continuing to pay rent at 11 Innisfil St., without a response from the province.
An SCS/CTS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for people to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff. Consumption means taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting or orally.
The Ontario government launched a broad SCS review following a shooting outside of a site in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood.
That review ultimately meant all pending and new applications for SCS facilities in the province were put on hold.