Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois, Queen's Park screen shot, February 20, 2024

An MPP from Thunder Bay is advocating to keep northwestern Ontario’s only safe injection site open.

This comes as the provincial government announced in August that they are establishing new rules regarding safe injection sites. The adjustment makes it so the consumption sites can no longer be located near schools or childcare centres.

This will force the Path 525 safe injection site in Thunder Bay to close.

Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois brought a stack of petitions to Queens Park that opposed the closure.

“The addictions crisis is hard on everyone, hard on those living in encampments and hard on those worried about safety in their neighbourhoods,” explained Vaugeois. “But the closure of consumption treatment sites goes against the recommendations of the province’s own experts, and that is because these sites improve community safety and save lives.”

According to Vaugeois, Path 525 has saved 465 lives in Thunder Bay alone.

She went on to highlight that the province was aware there was a school nearby when the site was opened. Ontario also invested in renovations to the site while requiring Path 525 to complete and implement a community safety strategy, before pivoting and choosing to close the location.

“Why the sudden change of direction to win votes by creating scapegoats? To distract from the government’s failures to address the levels of homelessness and poverty not seen since the Great Depression,” said Vaugeois. “People whose lives have been saved by harm reduction sites have gone on to become community leaders, but only because sites like Path 525 help them stay alive until they were able to gain control over their addiction.

“Harm reduction is one of the four essential pillars of care, and if the experts, including those with lived experience, are listened to PATH 525 in Thunder Bay will stay open.”

The province is developing Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs which are aimed at replacing the safe injection sites.

Path 525 will be given the opportunity to operate as a HART Hub.

The safe injection site is currently still operational but the rule adjustment will force its closure by March 2025, barring a change of direction from the province.