As advocates from all across the province call on the Ford government to expand funding and approve safe consumption sites, the provincial government has been radio silent on its upcoming plans.
Cambridge has been waiting for several years now for a Consumption, Treatment and Services (CTS) site to come and offer relief to those who experience drug addiction.
Micheal Parkinson, a local drug policy expert and former member of the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, thinks the opportunity for Cambridge to get its own site may have run out.
"Last week, the experience of health units, and community partners across Ontario has been that the province simply doesn't respond to requests for information or for requests to support consumption services, it's a wall of silence," said Parkinson.
"This arbitrary cap the government has put up and province-wide review is going to shut down almost any chance to get any new clinics had. This includes ones who have had their applications sitting on a desk for the past few years."
Parkinson adds the province sees an overdose death every two and a half hours and there is no sign of a pulse at the provincial government.
The AIDS Committee Of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo & Area (ACCKWA) has taken the reigns to get a consumption site set up in the city, but further roadblocks from the province may have just closed the door.
After multiple public consultations and approval from the city and the Region of Waterloo, the province is steadfast in not releasing funding for any more CTS sites in Ontario.
In a report recently presented to the regional council, there have been 1,449 suspected opioid toxicity-related paramedic calls in Waterloo region and 65 suspected opioid-related deaths so far in 2024.
The region has committed itself to working with local healthcare professionals and taking advice from experts to reduce the number of deaths and opioid-related overdoses.
This initiative includes supporting and advocating for CTS sites in the region.
Parkinson notes the lack of communication and willingness to work with healthcare providers is a clear sign the province will not budge and is trending in the opposite direction politicizing and furthering the stigmatization of drug users.
"The provincial government, like the conservative government in Alberta and the conservative opposition nationally, seem to be taking their advice from American addiction treatment lobbies," he said.
"It's very frustrating to watch proven initiatives become hyper-politicized, scapegoated and be the subject of misinformation or outright lies."
Initiatives like the federal government's "safer supply" program provide prescribed medications as a safer alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply to people who are at high risk of overdose.
Parkinson believes safe supply programs are under attack, but are proven interventions that could provide the relief many in Cambridge are looking for.
"If it is homelessness, reduced crime, reduced victimization, reduced overdoses and improved health care this would help with that," he said.
The province is expected to release new, stricter guidelines for CTS sites along with a review that could further change the landscape of harm reduction in Ontario.
After a July 2023 shooting that killed a woman near South Riverdale Community Health Centre in Toronto, the province noted it would be reviewing the sites and making sure nothing like this would ever happen again.
Since the incident, all applications for CTS sites that were already sent to the province for final approval were paused, including the one in Cambridge.
"If we're pointing fingers and saying my way, is the only way, we're never going to get there. In the meantime, someone's dying every two and a half hours. It's a full-blown tragedy," added Parkinson.
