A total of nine supervised drug injection sites across the province have been officially transitioned into Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs by the Government of Ontario, including one site in Hamilton.
The new HART Hub is operated by Hamilton Urban Core and is located at 430 Cannon Street East near the Wentworth Street intersection.
The province says that the Hamilton Urban Core HART Hub “provides client-centred care for Hamilton’s most vulnerable populations facing overlapping challenges related to mental health, addiction, homelessness and barriers to care, while addressing key social determinants of health.”
Resources at the site reportedly include mental health and addiction services, addiction treatment bed-based services, primary care services, case management for income supports, social services, and employment, needle drop-off, shelter and transition beds, and supportive housing for those with mental health and addiction issues.
The nine drug injection sites were closed and transitioned to HART Hubs since new legislation stipulated that drug injection sites can no longer be located within 200 metres of a school or childcare centre.
Hamilton Urban Core’s injection centre at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church was within 200 metres of the YWCA Hamilton Downtown Child Care Centre.
The government also announced that it would be prohibiting municipalities or any organization from setting up new consumption sites or participating in any federal drug supply initiatives.
The Government of Ontario is planning to invest nearly $550 million to support the creation of 28 HART Hubs in total across the province.
However, the City of Hamilton’s other drug injection site, located at YWCA Hamilton, will not have to close yet after a court injunction ruled that 10 sites across Ontario can stay open while a legal challenge of the provincial government’s law progresses.
That YWCA site is located in the exact same building as the YWCA Hamilton Downtown Child Care Centre.
The legal challenge was filed by a Toronto-based community group and two co-applicants who argue that closing injection sites violates drug users’ right to life, liberty, and security under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Ontario Superior Court Justice John Callaghan is hearing the case and has decided in the meantime to grant an injunction allowing the sites to remain open while the case is heard, a process that is expected to take months.
Thus, it appears that, of the province’s 23 drug consumption sites, nine are now converted to HART Hubs, 10 that are within 200 metres of a school or daycare are permitted to remain open due to the court injection, and the remaining four are permitted to stay open since they are not within 200 metres of a school or daycare.
Vijay Thanigasalam, the Government of Ontario’s Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said in a press release, “By transitioning these sites into HART Hubs, we’re ensuring that people struggling with addiction get the treatment and support they need to recover.”
“At the same time, we’re making sure our schools and child-care centres remain safe for children and families.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
