Following a decision made by the Ontario provincial government under the direction of health minister Sylvia Jones, Toronto’s last safe injection site is losing its provincial funding and needs to close down by November 22. Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre located outside of the downtown core, and its funding will go to homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hubs, said Jones at a news conference.

The health minister also said she is “very happy that [the province has] actually gone to a treatment model, not just an illicit drug use.” Moreover, she added that supervised consumption sites are “essentially ensuring that people continue to use deadly drugs,” and that the HART hubs are an “all-encompassing” pathway to treatment.

Since early 2024, many supervised consumption sites in the province closed their doors and converted to HART hubs as part of an abstinence-based treatment model introduced by the Ontario government after it banned the operation of supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares.

Currently, the Parkdale supervised consumption service (SCS) offers harm-reduction services including Naloxone training and distribution, drug checking, informal counseling and referrals to treatment and housing supports. According to Angela Robertson, executive director of the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, the centre is “devastated” by this decision. “This decision does not make drug use disappear — it simply forces people back into parks, public washrooms, shelters and sidewalks, with nowhere to safely use drugs and nowhere to dispose of drug use equipment,” she said in a news release.

The Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site filed a legal challenge in the Ontario Superior Court against the province’s partial ban on supervised consumption sites, arguing that it violates Charter rights. In March, an Ontario judge subsequently allowed 10 sites, including those in Kensington and Parkdale, to remain open while the court considers the case.

In his interview with CBC News, Bill Sinclair, the CEO of the Neighbourhood Group that runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Service, said the decision could arrive “any day” and that he is concerned about the demand for services in the meantime. Furthermore, he added that the Parkdale SCS saw an increase in access after other sites were closed. The Kensington site is the last SCS west of Yonge Street, he said, and if Parkdale clients come to their site, it will be a challenge.

“This is too much,” he said. “It’s going to overwhelm our small site.” He also explained that the Kensington site is now the only supervised consumption site west of Yonge Street, and if people who previously used the Parkdale service begin coming there, it will strain their limited capacity.