Overview
- Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones rejected calls Wednesday to reverse site closures after six former Toronto mayors urged them to restore funding.
- Seven supervised consumption sites were told their provincial funding will be pulled by mid-June, following nine closures last year under a 200‑metre ban near schools and daycares.
- The province is shifting resources to abstinence-focused Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment hubs, with 28 funded and all but one now operating.
- Critics cite strain and risk, pointing to Toronto Paramedic Services data showing an 82% rise in suspected opioid overdose calls from April 2025 to January 2026 after earlier closures.
- Ford pointed to an Alberta report on Red Deer that found no post-closure spike, though the study’s 26‑week window made its findings inconclusive and academics flagged conflict-of-interest concerns.