TIMMINS - Two months after asking the local services board to talk about its proposed mental health and addiction treatment facility, the agency is slated to take a seat at the Timmins council table.
At Tuesday's meeting, Cochrane District Services Board (CDSB) director of health services Jean Carrier and Canadian Mental Health Association Cochrane-Timiskaming executive director Paul Jalbert are talking to council members about the proposed Wellness Centre of Excellence (WCE).
It's fulfilling a council request from September, when they asked for the WCE partners to explain the hub model, what services would be delivered, and the potential impacts on the neighbourhood.
There's also a motion at tomorrow's meeting that Coun. Bill Gvozdanovic asked to be added. The resolution says the City of Timmins does not support the Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub application or the location of the proposed facility. It says the "city would entertain porposals in the future to deal with issues facing the community."
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The CDSB is the lead on the proposal, which they hope will be one of 10 new HART hubs announced by the province in August. The CDSB is buying the Ramada Inn at 1800 Riverside Dr. in the city's west end for the project.
The WCE is a proposed centralized service hub. It hopes to offer primary care, addiction and mental health services, Indigenous-focused care, supportive housing with services, and life skill and employment training. This week's presentation notes that the specific programs and services will only be finalized once there is funding in place.
It will not be an emergency shelter, offer harm reduction supplies or be a supervised consumption site.
CDSB is asking for up to $6.3 million per year for three years and up to $1.8 million in one-time funding. Under the HART Hub model, $1.3 million of the $6.3 million annually would be specifically for supportive housing. Major capital costs for new or full building renovations are not eligible for funding.
This week's deputation includes a seven-page presentation that outlines the timeline of the project, what's been developed, feedback and a client's journey.
For the timeline, the HART Hub application deadline was in October. While the CDSB has said the funding confirmation is expected this month, the Ministry of Health has not confirmed that. The Ministry's messaging has been that the goal is to have HART hubs running by the end of March 2025.
Public engagement is listed in most of the phases.
To date, there has only one public session. Information handed out at that meeting listed dates for future public sessions, but none have been held. A project website, wceproject.ca, was recently quietly launched, but offers few new details on the project.
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A petition circulating online is calling for the application to be withdrawn due to the "failed commitment to community engagement". It also calls for the CDSB to sell the Ramada and use the proceeds to move Living Space away from residential areas, and for a full review of CDSB senior management.
The full presentation at the Nov. 26 meeting is available here.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in city hall.
