Waterloo Region urging province not to give up on CTS funding

Councillors in the Region of Waterloo are supporting a motion to maintain funding for Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) sites.

They’re urging the Ontario government to reconsider its decision to shut down 10 locations across the province, including sites in Kitchener and Guelph.

Back in August, the province announced its plan to fund a new model called Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs that do not include supervised consumption services.

Coun. Rob Deutchmann introduced the motion to Waterloo Region council during Tuesday’s Community and Health Services Committee meeting. They’d like to see funding for the HART hubs and CTS sites, with many councillors saying they feel both are needed to address the needs of the community.

“This motion is advocating for prevention and treatment,” Deutchmann explained. “This is not ‘us versus them’ motion, this is an ‘us and them’ motion, together. This is not just to focus on treatment, which some people are advocating, this is doing both together and I appreciate the support from council for this motion.”

One of the delegates was Kitchener coun. Stephanie Stretch who told regional councillors the CTS site in her ward is only about a block away from her home and the neighbourhood has benefited from the site. She also shared that she had lost a brother to a drug overdose a few years ago.

“It definitely has made a cleaner, safer experience,” she said. “I'd like to add it's not perfect but it definitely helps.”

“Please hear me when I tell you that the bodies will pile up when these doors close,” delegate and harm reduction worker, Simone Morrison said. “Can you take a moment and reflect on the privileges you have and honestly say you’ve exhausted every single option to keep our people alive? I urge council to express to the province the community outrage at the defunding of the Sanguen Health Centre’s CTS site in Kitchener.”

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, the region’s Medical Officer of Health, agrees.

In response to a councillor’s question, she said: “The ideal would be a HART hub model that would allow harm reduction supports..The missing piece is that the HART hub model prohibits harm reduction, with the exception of providing naloxone.”

Wang added that the current plan is for Kitchener to apply for a HART hub, with a satellite location in Cambridge.

“I think HART hub is a great model but to me it's not an either/or, it's a yes/and," said Regional Chair, Karen Redman.

But not all councillors indicated they would support the motion. Among them is Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett who said her city is focused on upstream prevention, particularly aimed at youth.

“We need to get past this decision of the government to close down the CTS’s and really focus on what they are offering us, because that's where the solution lies,” said Liggett.

The previous Cambridge city council had approved a site, with an operator and location in downtown Galt selected. Though, the province has since said it will no longer approve any new CTS sites.

The deadline to indicate initial interest in a HART Hub is Sept. 20, with a more fulsome application deadline of Oct. 18. The province previously said communities where CTS sites are being closed will be given priority consideration for HART hubs.