Ottawa's supervised consumption sites close after 13 years
Sandy Hill and Shepherds of Good Hope sites shut down Friday, June 12, leaving addiction advocates warning of increased overdose deaths.
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Ottawa's two remaining supervised consumption sites closed Friday, June 12, ending a 13-year harm-reduction model that reversed an average of 2.3 overdoses daily at the Shepherds of Good Hope location alone.
The closures follow Ontario's decision to redirect health-care funding toward recovery-focused spaces known as HART (Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment) hubs, according to Dean Dewar, director of the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, which operated one of the sites.
Dewar expressed concern that the transition won't work. When Somerset West's supervised consumption site converted to a HART hub, the city saw an immediate increase in drug use, discarded needles in the community, and social disorder — even though clients still had other supervised sites available elsewhere in Ottawa. Now, with no sites remaining, he worries the nearest HART hub is too far for many Sandy Hill clients to reach.
"A lot of times, this is the one place where they can sit down and just have a nice conversation with someone who's smiling at them," Dewar said. "This is a place where clients feel like they belong, or that they're not judged for doing what they're doing."
Dewar noted that supervised consumption wasn't anti-recovery—it was often the first step toward it. Staff who saw clients daily could identify people ready for help and connect them to treatment. The sites also provided wound care, infection treatment, and a consistent anchor for vulnerable people.
The Shepherds of Good Hope's site, known as the Trailer, served about 225 people daily. In the days following the closure, observers reported unconscious individuals on nearby streets, signaling the immediate impact of the loss.