The Windsor CTS Advocacy Coalition is holding a vigil this evening, as part of a provincial day of action to call on the government to immediately fund and support supervised consumption services.
Windsor will join a number of other communities across the province, including others waiting on the provincial review of new sites to wrap up like Sudbury, Timmins and Barrie.
In early October 2023, the province announced it was pausing the approval of new supervised consumption and treatment sites due to an ongoing review which would be followed by a Critical Incident Review report.
The provincial day of action comes on the heels of a wave of province-wide support, with over 50 groups endorsing an open letter to the provincial Ministry of Health calling for emergency action.
The site in Windsor, SafePoint, closed at the end of December after funding provided by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit ran out. Sites in Sudbury and Timmins will close at the end of March, without immediate government intervention.
Coalition member Lacie Krzemien says the government has taken enough time, and they need to act to save lives.
"Paying homage to the loss of life saving health care services. We're not giving up, we're standing in solidarity and anyone is welcome to participate and honour the lost ones in our community across the province," she said.
Krzemien says they're expecting similar numbers to their last demonstration, when over two dozen people rallied outside Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie's office earlier this month.
"It's a vigil so we're expecting community members that have maybe lost loved ones, so it could be anywhere between 30 to 50 people like last time. That's kind of what we're anticipating."
She says it's important to keep the pressure on the government on this issue.
"There's life loss that be can prevented if we have this resource in our community. And we keep the pressure on the Ontario government to honour that funding and put through the application," Krzemien said.
The vigil at SafePoint, located at 101 Wyandotte Street East, gets underway at 5 p.m.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi