Item - 2026.HL31.11

The Board of Health:

1. Requested the Province of Ontario to:

a. continue funding Consumption and Treatment Services at the Moss Park (South Riverdale Community Health Centre) and Fred Victor sites; and

b. should the Consumption and Treatment Services funding be terminated, maintain provincial funding levels for these agencies to maintain their connection with their clients and provide a safe and welcoming space from which to provide:

i.  referrals to Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs;
ii. onsite addiction treatment;
iii. mental health treatment;
iv. housing referrals;
v.  low barrier primary care visits;
vi. complex wound care; and
vii. food programming.

2. Acknowledged the ongoing stigma and discrimination experienced by people who use drugs and that the closure of remaining Consumption and Treatment Services sites will impact health outcomes and access to services, and have disproportionate impacts on Indigenous, racialized and other equity-deserving populations. 

3. Requested the Ministry of Health and Health Canada ensure drug checking sample collection sites remain available to inform local drug toxicity surveillance because drug checking is the only public health surveillance method that provides timely information critical for informing overdose response and clinical care protocols, and addiction treatment plans.

4. Endorsed the letter from the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Drug Strategy Network of Ontario, and HIV Legal Network urging the province to reconsider the decision to defund provincially-funded supervised consumption sites in Ontario.

On March 13 the Ministry of Health notified remaining provincially-funded Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) that they would be withdrawing their funding, effective June 13, 2026. The consumption and treatment services at Fred Victor and Moss Park will be impacted by this decision, leaving only two public sites in Toronto.

Since the Community Care and Recovery Act came into effect nearly one year ago, the City has been actively engaged in mitigating the impacts of the mass closures of Consumption and Treatment Services. I convened an interdivisional response table to ensure we are collecting the right data and approaching any challenges that arise collectively. Through the Our Health, Our City Implementation Panel we also struck a CTS Closures working group made up of community representatives from remaining Consumption and Treatment Services, Hart Hubs, advocacy groups, drop-in sites, shelters, and community health centres as well as city staff, researchers, physicians and others to better understand the impacts on the ground and develop action items related to the closures.

Consumption and Treatment Services are just one stop on the continuum of care for people who use drugs, but they are a crucial starting point for many people to eventually transition to treatment. The staff at these sites are more than just staff – for many, they are a primary source of community. When sites close, the trust that has been built over years within that community is broken and clients lose a safe place to explore recovery.

At the same time, we lose valuable information about the unregulated drug supply because many Consumption and Treatment Services also operate as sites for Toronto’s Drug Checking Service to collect samples. It is through drug checking that we can draw connections between what is in the drug supply and what we’re seeing on the streets to inform response, and, most importantly, alert the public about dangerous trends.

In response to the province’s decision, I am bringing forward the following recommendations to ensure that people who use drugs in our city are not left completely abandoned by their network of support. I hope this board will continue to stand unequivocally in support of the life-saving services so many of our residents rely upon.