Dozens of people gathered outside Ontario’s health ministry in Toronto today, two days before the provincial election, to protest the province’s plans to shut down 10 supervised drug consumption sites by the end of March.
Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government announced last summer that it would close the consumption sites, including five in Toronto, because of their proximity to schools and daycares.
The government has also banned new sites from opening as it moves away from harm reduction to an abstinence-based approach.
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Speaking at the protest in downtown Toronto this afternoon, a member of the Leslieville Harm Reduction Coalition says closing supervised consumption sites is going to lead to more overdose deaths.
Suzanne Fish says consumption sites provide care for many people who are among the most marginalized in Toronto.
Similar gatherings were held in other cities across Ontario including Barrie, Guelph, Hamilton and Ottawa.
Ontario party leaders debated earlier this month how they would deal with the addictions crisis, which is among the top concerns for many municipalities, but the issue has not been at the forefront of the campaign.
Opioids killed more than 2,600 Ontarians in 2023, the last full year of data available.
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