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The Ontario judge has approved an injunction to open 10 supervised consumption locations, while he considered a charter challenge for a new provincial law that prohibits the location from operating within 200 metres of a school or daycare.
Superior Court Judge John Callaghan said all sites that will be closed under the new law by April 1 can be opened until 30 days after he decides the case.
“The constitutional issues in this application are complex,” Callahan wrote.
“My decision will take some time. So I retained the decision on the Charter and other constitutional issues, and the judgment will be issued in the coming months.”
The neighborhood group operates the Kensington Market Prevention Location in downtown Toronto and filed a lawsuit in December with two people using the space.
They argued in court earlier this week that the new law violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the constitution, including the right to life, freedom and security.
The province argues that the new law does not violate the Charter or the Constitution, which is necessary to protect the public, especially children, from chaos and violence near consumption locations.
Health officials and advocates for reducing injuries warn people that people will die if they continue to lockdown.
The judge said he granted exemptions to all supervised consumption locations so they can continue to operate as usual. He said that when he believes his decision, the harm to the users of these sites exceeded the harm to the public.
Callahan wrote in his decision: “Exemption of existing (supervised consumption locations) will have a substantial public interest to prevent serious health risks and deaths, which, in my opinion, exceeds the harm caused by ongoing public obstacles.”
The province says it plans to continue
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones spokesman Hannah Jensen said in a statement Friday that the provincial government has introduced the law for public safety reasons.
“Our priority is to protect children and families from violent crime and dangerous public drug use, occurring at drug injection sites near schools and day care,” Jansen said.
Nine out of 10 consumption locations should be converted to recovery treatment centers for homelessness and addiction, or as the province calls it Hart Hubs. One of the locations inside the South Riverdale Community Health Center has been closed and the door was permanently closed on March 21.
Jansen said the ruling would not change the province’s plans.
“The transition to nine drug injection sites to the homelessness, addiction and recovery treatment (HART) center will be conducted as planned on April 1,” she said.
“Hart Hubs’ provincial funding cannot be used for drug injection services and will depend on organizations that are not seeking to continue these services.”
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