Altered city limits sign puts spotlight on Toronto's opioid overdose crisis
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Toronto is now known as “Ontario’s capital in overdose deaths,” according to at least one city limits signs.
A resident in the Burhamthorpe-Mill Rds. area — close to Toronto’s western border with Mississauga — noticed an additional message on a blue “Welcome to Toronto” sign on Sunday.
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Below the words “Ontario’s capital,” vandals added “in overdose deaths.”
“This is something the spotlight has not been on the way that it should … (this crisis is) on a scale that’s beyond anything else except perhaps COVID-19 itself,” said Mayor John Tory on Monday.
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“We have a significant harm reduction program implemented by Toronto Public Health, but more needs to be done. While (the sign) isn’t the single best way to draw attention to this, it’s got us talking about it.”
In mid-November, Toronto Public Health reported that 132 people died from overdoses in Toronto between April 1 and Sept. 30 — nearly double the number of deaths during the same time period in each of the two previous years. Most recently, Toronto Police said five deadly drug overdoses in Cabbagetown last week were believed to be linked to the potentially-deadly opioid, fentanyl.
“There’s no question COVID-19 has been an almost all-consuming challenge for us to deal with, but that doesn’t mean we’re not paying attention to other challenges, the opioid overdose crisis being a key one amongst them,” said Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health.
Health Board Chair Joe Cressy, who’s also a city councillor, added there has been an increase of opioid-related deaths across Canada during the pandemic.
“What we’ve heard from enforcement officials is one of the painful effects of the border closures is the illicit supply is more tainted and more deadly than ever. Overdoses are preventable,” he said.
Cressy said funding pleas to the provincial government for treatment, prevention and harm reduction have gone unanswered since 2017.
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The Ministry of Health, for its part, said earlier this year, it invested $3.8 billion over a decade towards the Roadmap to Wellness roadmap, which bolsters mental health and addictions supports.
City spokesperson Brad Ross said three vandalized signs have been tended to by municipal workers.
— With files by Jane Stevenson
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