CKMS News -2024-10-09- Resident and local government pushback continues against CTS closure in Kitchener

dan kellar
Kitchener, ON – In late August the provincial government announced new rules around Consumption and Treatment Services sites which will force the closure of ten of these health service programs across the province, including the CTS in Kitchener.

Since the announcement, site advocates, service users, community members, health care workers, and politicians have organised support for the CTS. Meanwhile, the provincial government has opened-up applications for funding for Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs to replace the affected CTS sites. Harm reduction such as supervised drug consumption will not be permitted at the new hubs.

On September 10th the regional government voted overwhelmingly to request that the province reverse its decision and maintain funding for the CTS while also funding a HART hub for the region. In the meeting, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Waterloo Region’s Medical Officer of Health said that the ideal model for treatment is a HART hub that would also allow harm reduction.

In a council meeting on September 30th, city of Kitchener councillors passed a motion to request that the province continue funding and allow operation of the CTS past the March 2025 deadline.

This show features interviews with Julie Kalbfleisch from Sanguen Health Centre, operator of Kitchener’s CTS, and Dr. Geoff Bardwell, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health Sciences at the UW, and member of the grassroots Waterloo Region Drug Action Team.

A slightly shorter version of this piece is available at: https://www.frequencynews.ca/news/resident-and-local-government-pushback-continues-against-cts-closure-in-kitchener/