‘We’re not going back’: Kitchener council to consider advocating for CTS sites
Posted Sep 30, 2024 11:39:11 AM.
Last Updated Sep 30, 2024 11:39:17 AM.
Last week, the Region of Waterloo passed a motion to advocate for the continued funding of safe consumption sites and on Monday councillors at the City of Kitchener will consider doing the same.
The motion was introduced by Councillor Debbie Chapman, which states that Consumption Treatment Services (CTS) sites have been instrumental in preventing thousands of overdose deaths and that crime statistics do not indicate that CTS sites have any link to an increase in crime in Waterloo Region.
If passed, the City of Kitchener will urge the provincial government to continue funding all CTS sites past the proposed termination date in March 2025.
Monday’s council meeting will feature a lengthy list of delegates including Michael Parkinson, a drug strategy specialist with the Waterloo Region Drug Action Team.
The WR Drug Action team says that if the only CTS site in Kitchener closes without a funded alternative the result will be deaths and injuries to people in Waterloo Region.
Parkinson says more than 21,000 people have died from toxic drugs since the Ford government took office in 2018, and he hopes they reject the policy decisions.
“It’s OK to say ‘We’ve made a mistake, we don’t want to kill people, we’ll respect the wishes of local municipalities,’ but whether it just sits on someone’s desk gathering dust until people start to die remains to be seen,” said Parkinson.
He hopes that the CTS site on Duke Street isn’t another successful project shut down by government decisions.
“We know this is an exemplary program here in Kitchener,” said Parkinson. “Time and time again, we’ve seen successful pilot projects shut down. I think volunteers and residents in Kitchener are saying ‘We’re not going back, we want to maintain this service because it works.'”
If the motion is passed, the resolution will be forwarded to Premier Doug Ford, the ministers of finance and health, and other municipalities that also have CTS sites in jeopardy of closing.
