Dozens of supporters packed a Toronto courtroom — and two overflow rooms — on Monday as a supervised consumption site challenged the legality of a new provincial law that will soon shut down 10 such sites and prevent new ones from opening.
The province passed legislation last year that banned consumption sites deemed too close to schools or daycares. The Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site in downtown Toronto, launched a lawsuit in December along with two people who use the space.
“Does Ontario’s actions increase risk of death and harm?” said the group’s lawyer, Carlo Di Carlo. “The answer is yes.”
Outside court, Bill Sinclair, CEO of The Neighbourhood Group, said he was confident in his team’s case.
“We are challenging the law because it’s discriminating against the people who use our services, and it’s going to reduce health services in the middle of a terrible health crisis,” he said.
The group says supervised consumption sites are part of the solution to the ongoing drug crisis that claims thousands of Ontarians’ lives every year.
“It’s something that will minimize deaths and the spread of infectious disease and that will allow people to continue their
fight to recover,” Di Carlo said in an interview before the hearing.
“And so that’s what’s at stake for not only our individual applicants, but anybody else throughout Ontario who’s in that position.”
