Timmins supervised consumption site is still open.
Safe Health Site Timmins (SHST) was slated to close on March 31 due to a lack of permanent provincial funding. It is still open today (April 1).
Timmins and District Hospital has confirmed the site did not close, as had been previously communicated.
TimminsToday has asked for details on the funding, its source and what it means for the services at the facility. Timmins and District Hospital communications co-ordinator Kaileigh Russell says that additional information will be provided when it's available.
Right now, the safe consumption site is operated by Timmins and District Hospital, which also funded the facility from Jan. 1 of this year to March 31.
Last week, the hospital called SHST staff, who had previously been told that it was closing, to ask if they wanted to stay on.
SHST is a place for people to use previously obtained drugs in the presence of trained medical staff and connect to services.
It was funded by the City of Timmins from July 2022 to Dec. 31, 2023.
Last year, SHST received approval for a permanent facility from Health Canada, which allowed it to apply to the province for funding.
Right after receiving the federal nod, Ontario paused all new funding applications for safe consumption sites to allow for a review of the facilities after a woman was hit by a stray bullet and killed outside of a Toronto site. That review has not been completed yet.
On Thursday, a group of people protested outside of Timmins MPP George Pirie's office. It's the second time the group held the demonstration demanding provincial action to keep SHST and other sites across the province open.
The demonstrations were a follow-up to Canadian Drug Policy Coalition's (CDPC) open letter to Ontario's Minister of Health Sylvia Jones and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo. It has eight calls to action, including emergency funding for safe consumption sites that have applied for provincial cash and are going to close or have closed due to lack of funds.
Tibollo was in Timmins last week.
His office confirmed that he attended Mushkegowuk' Council's Healing Together Health Forum with Pirie. They did not respond to questions about whether Tibollo met with SHST representatives while in town or if the province had approved funding for the Timmins facility or other sites across the province.
