The union representing workers at Timmins safe consumption site has been notified that the future of the facility is uncertain beyond December 2023, says Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau.
Safe Health Site Timmins (SHST) has been operating out of its Cedar Street North facility for more than a year. It's been running as a temporary site since July 2022, with work being done behind the scenes to secure Health Canada approval for a permanent site. That federal designation could open the door to permanent funding, but last week associate minister of mental health and addictions Michael Tibollo said all new funding applications for the sites are on hold in the province.
While Boileau doesn't know what the announcement means for the Timmins site yet, she said people are actively working to gather the information.
“It’s concerning considering that there are only a few months left of funding currently committed to the operations. I think every partner that’s been involved was hopeful that we would receive a response from the province one way or another before the end of this calendar year as to whether or not we would receive that permanent funding," she said.
"I suppose you could say we were so close to knowing what the fate was and now it seems to be put on hold. It feels as if the clock’s just going to run out at this point. It’s concerning to think about what that will mean for the community come January, should we be facing a closure of the operations at the end of this calendar year."
In the absence of funding from upper levels of government, so far, Safe Health Site Timmins has operated through municipal funding.
SEE: Safe injection site application still being reviewed
The City of Timmins committed over $1 million to run the temporary site for the first year. For that initial support, the city used part of its reimbursement from the federal government for hosting evacuations to cover the cost.
Timmins council members approved an additional six-month commitment to the site, which started in July. The cost is $85,833 per month.
Health Canada received the application for a permanent supervised consumption site in Timmins in January 2023. While it was listed as being under review and waiting for key information before making a decision for months, the status has recently changed to be at the decision stage.
Boileau said that the Health Canada approval for the permanent facility was recently received.
The permanent facility would be operated by the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). TimminsToday has reached out to Health Canada and the CMHA for comment.
Even with the federal designation, 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.
Over the summer, the Ontario Ministry of Health said it allocated up to $31.3 million in funding for up to 21 consumption and treatment services in communities across the province.
The suspension of new safe injection sites is until a review of existing sites can be completed. Everything is on the table for the review, including where the facilities can go, according to the Canadian Press.
Tibollo has been a vocal champion of the work of Dr. Louisa Marion-Bellemare and Dr. Julie Samson, the two local doctors who lobbied for the creation of Safe Health Site Timmins, as well as other ways to break down barriers to meet patients' unique needs.
After the doctors earned national recognition for their work, Tibollo even featured them and their work on an episode of his podcast.
SEE: Associate minister talks to Timmins doctors for podcast
RELATED: Doctors' work to address opioid crisis earns national recognition
Boileau said she's not aware of any of the SHST partners hearing from Tibollo's office recently.
The last time she talked to him was at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference. She left that meeting "with a little bit of hope".
For now, as the SHST partners work to get answers to last week's announcement, Boileau said unions have been told there will be potential layoffs at the end of December as there is no funding to the site beyond that.
"Unions have been notified and partners are just doing an assessment of what our capacities are outside of the site and are starting to develop a plan for how the community will respond to a potential increase in drug poisoning and overdoses in the coldest months of the year,” she said.
If Timmins were to continue funding the site, it would be part of the 2024 budget conversations in the coming months.
“We have not received a request from the operators to continue funding. I suppose I would say that’s what it would take for that conversation to take place,” said Boileau.