THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay may become home to a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub next year.
Path 525 is operated in the NorWest Community Health Centres on Simpson Street and is the city's only supervised consumption site.
However, with its proximity to Ogden Community School, it is slated to shut down next March.
NorWest Community Health Centres has not confirmed with Newswatch whether they have submitted a HART Hub application. However, CBC has reported the organization has applied to operate a Hub in Thunder Bay.
“When we made the decision to remove the consumption and treatment sites 200 metres away from a daycare, a school, we also ensured that those sites would have the opportunity to transition into a full HART Hub model,” said Sylvia Jones, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, who spoke at an Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre announcement on Monday.
Jones added that these Hubs are a more complete pathway to treatment, services and support.
“If you need social services support, the HART Hubs will be part of that, whether it is access to treatment for mental health or addictions and, of course, access to supportive housing,” said Jones.
However, replacing these CTS locations with HART Hubs across the province may come at a cost for those who relied on locations like Path 525.
These spaces do not provide safe consumption or safe supply services, which Path 525 previously offered.
The HART Hub is also one of 19 planned across Ontario. These centres will cost the province $378 million.
“I feel and our government feels very strongly, that the way to give people hope is to actually offer them alternatives and that's what we're doing with our HART Hub model and the investments we're making in mental health and addictions,” said Jones.
With those applications into the ministry now, Jones said they are reviewing them and expect to be able to make those announcements very early in the new year.
