THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay's only safe injection site, Path 525, is set to close in March 2025, but the provincial New Democratic Party won’t let the site go down without a fight.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois presented a petition at Queen's Park on Wednesday demanding the government stop the closure of the Path 525 overdose prevention services and continue funding safe consumption services. Her constituency office has gathered over 360 signatures and continues to gather more.
“There are examples of people who have been saved by a consumption treatment site who are now community leaders who are working to support other people with addictions and they're doing really important work,” Thunder Bay-Superior North MPP Lise Vaugeois told Newswatch.
She said Path 525 has reversed over 465 overdoses.
“That is a lot of people who are not requiring EMS services, they're not dead. They are still alive and able to access other forms of treatment and support,” Vaugeois said.
Path 525 is operated by NorWest Community Health Centres at their building on Simpson Street, but recently the Ford Government banned safe consumption sites from operating within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres put the site in jeopardy.
The NorWest Community Health Centre building is within 200 metres of Ogden Elementary School.
“The greater problem is a lack of sufficient detox beds, but that site is saving lives and it is evidence-based. The current plan to get rid of those sites is not based on evidence,” said Vaugeois.
“It's based on trying to create a wedge to divide people, to say some people are worth saving and others are throwaway, and that's not supportable,” she added.
She also noted that other NDP members have also joined the fight to save the save injection sites that are slated for closure across the province.
“The only thing that is ever been successful in changing a government's mind is a public outcry. The louder that outcry, the more possibility we have of making change right now,” Vaugeois said.
