‘We will see an increase in deaths’: Kitchener CTS site closing after nearly 6 years of service
Posted Mar 31, 2025 07:42:54 AM.
Last Updated Mar 31, 2025 08:49:11 AM.
The Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site in Kitchener is set to close on Monday after nearly six years of helping vulnerable people receive access to addiction and treatment services.
The provincial government is halting funding for CTS sites across the province as it shifts its approach to addiction treatment and care, opting to open Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs on April 1.
In August, 2024, the Ford Government announced the forced closure of any safe consumption site within 200 meters of a school or daycare center.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted a 30-day injunction that hoped to protect CTS sites, but sites like the one on Duke Street in Kitchener rely on provincial funding to operate. The provincial government’s funding is not being extended.
Since the site opened in 2019, it has had more than 63,000 visits and helped more than 1,500 people experiencing an overdose.
“We were able to get people to trust the healthcare system,” Violet Umanetz, the director of Consumption and Treatment Services with Sanguen Health, the operators of the site, said.
“While there is a lot of stigma around substance use, there are also a great number of service providers who genuinely and deeply care and want to make sure people can stay as healthy as possible while they’re using and also on their path to recovery.”
The CTS site in Kitchener had an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) to legally permit the supervised consumption of drugs on site, keeping people from using illicit drugs in unsafe environments. That exemption expires on March 31, and HART Hubs won’t be providing similar services.
“When we saw someone in what we would call trouble, we could start working with them immediately,” Umanetz, said. “Its very difficult for the average person to be involved in that work when people are hiding their use, they’re using in places that are not as visible.”
“We will see an increase in deaths in the community,” she added.
A HART Hub is set to open on Francis Street in Kitchener on April 1 but reportedly won’t be full operational because of funding concerns.
The province is investing $529 million to create 27 HART Hubs.
In response to the court injunction and the imminent closure of the CTS sit on Duke Street in Kitchener, the Waterloo Region Drug Action Team penned a letter to local MP’s and the Region of Waterloo council, urging them to put pressure on the provincial government.
“The lives of constituents locally and beyond very much hang in the balance,” the letter read.
Sanguen Health says it remains committed to re-establishing fully funded and legally exempt supervised consumption facilities in the community. It says it will continue to provide outreach, primary care, peer support, and overdose prevention training to those in need.
For more information about those services, visit sanguen.com.
