Leslieville residents skeptical of Ford government's plans to clean up drug site
Article content
Some area residents are skeptical about the Ontario government’s plans to clean up a controversial supervised drug site in Leslieville.
The province announced Friday it was appointing a senior executive to review the Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) located at 955 Queen St. E., which is operated by the South Riverdale Community Health Centre.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Leslieville residents skeptical of Ford government's plans to clean up drug site Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“I’m cautious about feeling optimistic,” area resident Mike Paris said Saturday.
The Ford government, which launched a review into the centre after an innocent 44-year-old was killed by a stray bullet on July 7, says it is appointing a supervisor to provide executive oversight and operational supervision of the CTS site and additional information will be provided in the future.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“There will be an opportunity for fulsome community consultation,” the province said in a letter to Leslieville townhall organizers. “In addition, the ministry has identified Unity Health Toronto to complete a comprehensive, third-party review of the CTS.”
“The review will include the operations of the site and the suitability CTS operations within Community Health Centres. Recommendations from this work will inform next steps for CTS within the Leslieville community and the ministry’s CTS funding program requirements,” states the letter, signed by Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Catherine Zahn.
Outrage erupted over the drug site after gunshots rang out near the centre over the noon-hour and Karolina Huebner-Makurat – a married mother of two young girls – was killed while on her way to grab lunch in the area of Queen St. E. and Carlaw Ave.
Paris pointed out that it has taken months to make a decision about additional layers of supervision.
“We want relocation. It shouldn’t be operating next to a school,” he said. “There are needles all over the schoolyard and (drug) users are drawn to the area and harass people in the street.”
“Here, people are very threatening and stealing Amazon packages. We deal with this on a daily basis. Action needs to be taken but I fear no one is listening. Walk around and you will see the real issues,” explained Paris, who has considered moving out of the neighbourhood.
He said the issues at the supervised injection site have been “steadily been getting worse.”
“The harm reduction missionaries believe in the cause and dismiss our concerns,” Paris said. “I’m not anti-harm reduction, but I have concerns.”
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.