This statement can be attributed to The Neighbourhood Group Community Services and the HIV Legal Network
March 26, 2025 – TORONTO – As of Tuesday, March 25, court proceedings in this challenge to Ontario’s Community Care and Recovery Act (CCRA) have now concluded. We are proud of the case we mounted at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and proud to work alongside the two brave individual applicants who gave so much of themselves during this time. The many strong interventions submitted on behalf of organizations Canada-wide have added so much to this case, and we are thankful on that front, as well. We are grateful for the overwhelming community support we continue to feel and have felt throughout this entire process.
While the Court reserved any decision regarding interim relief, including an injunction that would keep the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site (KMOPS) operational after March 31, we believe that everyone involved appreciates the life-and-death situation in which we find ourselves. The fact that the hearing itself took place this week is testament to this shared appreciation of the ticking clock for those who depend on the life-saving services KMOPS provides daily.
Today, we hope that the Court will grant the injunction which we have sought in a timely manner; more than 10 sites across Ontario are slated to close within a week. We also hope that KMOPS will remain open following the Government of Ontario’s March 31 deadline. During this waiting period, we know that there is fear, sadness, and anger on the part of KMOPS’ clients and supporters, and KMOPS’ committed staff are doing what they can — despite the uncertainty — to support the people who rely on this supervised consumption site.
Ultimately, we are hopeful that the Court will find in our favour after we presented an exceptionally strong case in support of the Charter rights of people who use drugs in Ontario.
We urge all decision-makers to consider the overwhelming evidence supporting supervised consumption sites when making life-or-death decisions about the health care services that people are allowed to access. As the unchallenged expert evidence demonstrated, these sites save lives, reduce the risk of infection, and improve community safety. A key principle of harm reduction is meeting people where they are, and this is what KMOPS does each and every day.
The Neighbourhood Group Community Services took action against the Community Care and Recovery Act so that we — and other supervised consumption sites in Ontario — can continue to prevent overdose deaths and improve the health care of people who may be struggling with problematic substance use. The HIV Legal Network, in partnership with the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO), decided to support and intervene in this case to provide specific evidence about the disproportionate impacts of the law, and site closures, on people living with HIV, women, and homeless people who use drugs. The reality, though, is that the CCRA has already forced some of the targeted sites to close, and others are in the process of closing, with no obvious way of reopening without prospects of future funding.
The CCRA, hastily passed on December 4, 2024, prohibits supervised consumption sites (also known as Consumption and Treatment Services sites) from operating within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres. It has created tremendous uncertainty in Ontario for people who use drugs and for organizations, staff, and peers who operate life-saving supervised consumption services. As Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said immediately prior to this week’s Charter Challenge, the new provincial government would not approve any new safe consumption sites or allow sites to relocate, despite arguments advanced by Ontario’s lawyers that sites could readily do so.
The consequences of the Act are dire and will result in increased toxic drug deaths and worsening health outcomes for people who use drugs. An abundance of research, including internal government reports, shows that supervised consumption sites reduce overdoses, connect people to care, and enhance public safety.
While we await the final ruling, we will continue our commitment to supporting vulnerable members of our community through harm reduction services and will provide further updates on our next steps.
How You Can Help
We are grateful to our partners and supporters, who continue to advocate for life-saving harm reduction services and support.
You can help us protect Safe Consumption Sites:
- Donate to support our safe consumption site
- Speak out on social media using #HarmReductionSavesLives
- Contact your MPP to demand evidence-based drug policies
- Find more information on the backgrounder and factum here.
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Contacts
Laina Gibson, Vice President, Philanthropy and Communications (she/her)
The Neighbourhood Group Community Services
647.458.1649 | laina.gibson@tngcs.org
Dylan DeMarsh
HIV Legal Network
d.demarsh@hivlegalnetwork.ca
About The Neighbourhood Group Community Services — The Neighbourhood Group Community Services (TNGCS) is a social agency serving more than 47,000 low-income people and families in more than 30 locations across Toronto. The mission is to work with people at every stage of their lives, provide access to innovative and effective programs, and collaboratively build and advocate for an equitable, just, and vibrant community. We work with communities to identify, prevent and alleviate social and economic problems through the delivery of effective and innovative programs. Services include: supportive housing, newcomer services, youth services, employment services, senior services, child care and services for people who are homeless. With more than 1,000 staff and the support of over 600 volunteers, our programs and services address the most pressing issues in our community: poverty, homelessness, mental health, unemployment, social isolation, substance use, conflict resolution, violence, youth alienation, and the settlement of newcomers.
About the HIV Legal Network — The HIV Legal Network, headquartered in Toronto, promotes the human rights of people living with HIV or AIDS and other populations disproportionately affected by HIV, punitive laws and policies, and criminalization, in Canada and internationally. We have been working to safeguard the health and human rights of people who use drugs for more than 30 years, understanding that they have a right to accessible health services and that people with lived and living experience know best how and where these services should be delivered. We support the supervised consumption services that save lives during an unprecedented toxic drug crisis. You can read our 2024 report, Scaling Up Supervised Consumption Services: What Has Changed in Canada?, which details our most recent assessment of the situation in this country.