A public information session was held in Kitchener to discuss supervised consumption sites in Waterloo Region.
The meeting provided residents with information on how the sites would operate and also gave residents an opportunity to have their concerns heard and questions answered.
The potential Water Street location in Kitchener was a particularly contentious topic.
Jody Swannell lives about 100 metres from the proposed site and says she’s very concerned about the safety of the neighbourhood.
“It will act like a magnet and draw a lot of people with these problems to our neighbourhood,” she says.
She’s lived in the area for ten years and says she’s never come across a needle or witnessed an overdose, even while working weekends and night shifts.
“I understand the need for safe consumption sites,” says Swannell. “I don’t think our small neighbhourhood full of families and children is able to support something like this.”
The founder and executive director of Sanguen Health Centre, Dr. Chris Steingart, says he was pleased to hear the concerns from residents however he believes the safety of the neighbhourhood will actually improve.
He says supervised consumption sites allow those at risk access to healthcare in a safe, welcoming place.
“It gives someone a connection to the community,” says Dr. Steingart. “It tells someone who probably hasn’t felt that way for some time that their community cares about them. They care about their health, that their health is as important as anyone else’s.”
Right now there are two proposed supervised consumption sites in Waterloo Region, one in Kitchener and one in Cambridge.
