Editorial

Defunding CTS is not the answer

As IMAGE was in production for this issue, we learned that the Province was withdrawing funding for the Consumption and Treatment Services still being offered in Ward 12 by Ottawa Inner City Health and the Sandy Health Community Health Centre. OICH and SHCHC immediately issued a joint statement urging the Province to “come to the table to collaborate on alternative models of care that are rooted in evidence and community need”.  Other critics of the Province’s defunding of CTS include Ward 14 (Somerset) Councillor Ariel Troster and Ottawa Public Health, as reported by the Ottawa Citizen’s Elizabeth Payne on March 11 and March 17 (“Expect more public drug use after closing of supervised consumption site, officials warn” and “Ottawa’s two remaining supervised consumption sites to close in June”).

The operation of CTS (formerly referred to as Safe Injection Services) has certainly been controversial within our community. Those living closer to the SHCHC, along with ASH, our community association, have repeatedly called on officials to take their concerns more seriously. IMAGE contributors Larry Newman, Ralph Blaine and Mohammed Amine Harmach have written about the complexities of the problem in past issues. You can find these on the IMAGE website: www.imagesandyhill.org).

But the current homelessness, mental health, and street drug crisis is not just city-wide or even country-wide. This is a worldwide problem in all major Western cities. The countries that are showing the most promise in addressing this epidemic all include harm reduction as part of their strategy.  This move by the Province seems a classic example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The impacts on our community, which includes those who access CTS and whose lives were being saved by harm reduction, will be significant.

IMAGE will report more on this in the June issue and welcomes readers’ opinions.  Email the editor at: editor@imagesandyhill.org. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, phone number, and street name.

Christine Aubry
Editor

IMAGE extends deepest condolences to all those affected by the tragic accident of February 25 at Capital City Mission on Rideau Street. The great work of this small social service organisation was featured in the December issue of IMAGE (page19), available online at www.home.imagesandyhill.org.