It could still be some time before we learn whether a supervised injection site will open in Ottawa. This, after Health Canada officially approved three such sites in Montreal.
The Montreal sites, which would be the first supervised drug consumption sites in Canada to open outside of Vancouver, were approved Monday. Montreal mayor Denis Coderre tweeted he was happy to hear the federal government had given Montreal the green light to open the sites.
Très heureux d'apprendre que nous avons le feu vert d'Ottawa pour les sites d'injection supervisée. Réaction HDV Mtl 16h15
— DenisCoderre (@DenisCoderre) February 6, 2017
Rob Boyd is the director of the Oasis harm reduction program at Ottawa's Sandy Hill Community Health Centre. He says the news out of Montreal bodes well for their application for a supervised injection site.
“We’re pleased to hear that Health Canada has approved granting the exemption application to three sites in Montreal,” Boyd says. “We think this a strong indication of their stated commitment to make these services available across Canada.”
Boyd says the Sandy Hill CHC’s exemption application was received by Health Canada February 1.
“We do have an acknowledgment that they have received our application,” Boyd says. “I’m expecting something probably in the next week or so which might outline some areas that they feel that they would like a bit more information from us or any questions that they have about our application.”
Boyd says there is more work that needs to be done before a supervised injection site can be opened at their Centre.
“We’re going to need to ensure that we meet all of Health Canada’s standards, and we’re also going to have to secure the necessary resources to operate it from the provincial government, so there’s lot of back-and-forth that’s going to have to happen at both levels of government before we’re able to move forward with this.”
Recent legislation introduced by the federal Liberal government in December 2016 would remove 26 requirements for supervised injection sites that were introduced by the previous Conservative government. The changes would instead align exemption applications with factors laid out by the Supreme Court of Canada.
You can read Health Minister Jane Philpott's statement about Montreal’s supervised injection sites here.