Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his health minister are defending the decision to shutter more supervised drug consumption sites.
Two weeks ago, the province notified seven supervised consumption sites, including one in St. Catharines, that it would be pulling their funding, with sites set to close by mid-June.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the province will not reconsider the closures.
Jones says they are having early success with a new abstinence-based model known as homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs.
St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe announced today at the State of the City address that Niagara’s HART Hub will open on Friday.
Health-care workers, advocates and homeless people have decried the closures and say they will lead to more deaths.
Six former mayors of Toronto have urged Ford and Jones to reconsider their decision.
Story credit: Bonnie Heslop/Canadian Press
Image: Positive Living Niagara
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