With the local safe injection site marking its one-year anniversary and still not having a permanent status, the City of Timmins is on the hook financially to keep it open until at least the end of the year.
It comes at a cost of $85,833 per month.
Safe Health Site Timmins has applied to Health Canada for a permanent supervised consumption site. The application is currently under review and "awaiting key information before a decision can be taken."
"There is no set timeframe of how long it takes for a decision to be issued regarding these types of applications, due to the variation in the completeness and complexity of the application. The status currently listed on the Health Canada website for the Safe Health Site Timmins application remains accurate," said Charlaine Sleiman, a Health Canada spokesperson.
Timmins and District Hospital, which currently operates the site, Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau and Timmins MPP George Pirie have not replied to multiple requests to comment on the facility's first year and the status of the application.
In January, Timmins council committed to keeping the safe injection site's doors open by extending its financial commitment to it.
SEE: City extends safe injection site funding to end of 2023
RELATED: Safe injection site could mean fewer needles downtown, 911 calls
Safe Health Site Timmins opened in July 2022 as an Urgent Public Health Needs Site (UPHNS). It's a space for people to use previously obtained drugs by injection, orally or snorting under the supervision of trained medical staff. People can also stop in to use the bathroom or to connect with other services.
The UPHNS is a temporary solution to bridge the gap while work continues to secure a permanent site.
While a permanent facility requires federal approval, it is funded provincially. There is no funding from upper levels of government for temporary sites, which are needed to show that the facility will work.
The City of Timmins committed over $1 million to run the temporary site until July 2023. For that initial support, the city used part of its reimbursement from the federal government for hosting evacuations to cover the cost.
With the additional six-month commitment, the city could fund a further $515,000.
Even if the federal designation is approved, there's no guarantee funding will come through provincially.
The municipality's financial support to create the site was under the leadership of George Pirie, who was mayor at the time and is now the Timmins MPP and sits in Premier Doug Ford's Cabinet as the Minister of Mines.
The Ontario Ministry of Health says it's allocated up to $31.3 million in funding for up to 21 consumption and treatment services in communities across the province.
"CTS program funding is only provided after a site is approved by the ministry. All CTS applications are subject to a rigorous screening process. Timelines for the application screening process vary; most organizations submit application documents and information over a period of time. The application screening process cannot be completed until all required documentation is received by the ministry," said the Ministry of Health in an email to TimminsToday.
One of the criteria is local conditions.
That includes opioid-related deaths, hospital visits and proxy measures for needle and naloxone distribution. It also considers neighbourhood data to support the choice of the proposed site and how the delivery model is best-suited to local conditions. The full requirements are available here.
By the numbers
The temporary site is operated by Timmins and District Hospital, the proposed permanent site will be operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Cochrane-Timiskaming branch.
While the hospital did not accommodate an interview to talk about the first year of the facility, TADH communications specialist Kaileigh Russell says a summary of the first year of operation is being distributed. A link to the site's monthly data was also provided.
From July 2022 to May 2023, according to the SHST data, there were 21,920 client visits, with 11,430 of those being visits for consumption services. For every month of the data publicly available, fentanyl was the most-used drug. In those months, there were 108 overdoses and nine calls to paramedics.
In October, the site switched to electronically documenting its consumption services and started tracking how many unique visits to the site there are, according to its six-month report. That means along with tracking the total number of visits, it could track how many unique individuals stopped by. In its wrap-up of the site from July to December 2022, SHST data shows there were 218 unique visits (78 females and 140 males).
