Barrie’s Downtown BIA has clarified its position regarding a safe consumption site (SCS) for drug users.
The Business Improvement Area has no position on the merits of a safe site, although it does not support one within a one-kilometre radius of the current BIA boundary.
“So that’s strictly location,” said BIA chairman Rob Hamilton. “We are concerned about where it’s located; we’re concerned about where anything is located in the downtown.”
An SCS provides a safe space and sterile equipment for individuals to use pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health-care staff. Consumption refers to taking opioids and other drugs by injection, smoking, snorting, or orally.
On Sept. 22, 2020, the BIA board passed a motion that "the Downtown Barrie Business Association does not support the existence of a safe consumption/injection site (SCS/SIS) within a one-kilometre radius of the current BIA boundary."
“‘Does not support’ is not the operative phrase in that statement,” Hamilton said. “The operative phrase in that statement is ‘within a one-kilometre radius’ of our boundaries.
“This is the way I would interpret that we (the BIA board) don’t have a position (on a safe consumption site). Or we’re not stating a position, on whether a safe consumption site is a good thing or a bad thing in a community, because we don’t know.
“The only thing that we’re concerned about is the location, and so we passed a motion that it’s a one-kilometre separation.”
Last week, Hamilton told BarrieToday that “the BIA board, and myself personally, have never expressed an opinion on whether a safe consumption site is desirable or undesirable. I just don’t know.”
Asked how that statement could be reconciled with the September BIA motion, Hamilton had this to say.
“If my spoken word varies from the motion, I’m wrong. If I said something that was contrary to the motion, then I misspoke,” he said. “I didn’t have the motion in front of me. I don’t memorize these things.”
How much this motion will mean in the process of selecting a site in Barrie is unknown.
“The BIA is a stakeholder the same as our municipal partners, the same as our health and social service stakeholders, treatment service stakeholders and people with lived experience,” said Mia Brown, acting manager of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s substance use and injury prevention program.
“We do need to consult with a number of stakeholders," Brown added. "Businesses are part of the stakeholders we need to consult with… all stakeholders have an opportunity to provide their feedback. At the end of the day, it’s the city council members who make the decision whether they endorse the site that we propose."
“The province decides (on the safe consumption site location), but council will likely be asked for a motion of support for the application to the province,” said Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman.
The health unit, along with Canadian Mental Health Association’s Simcoe Branch, have proposed 31 Toronto St. (back building) and 110 Dunlop St. W, Unit 4, at the corner of Toronto and Dunlop streets, as potential sites. Both are within the BIA boundary.
Brown said its plan was to do the site search in Ward 2, where downtown Barrie lies.
“We have data that shows that there’s a higher concentration of overdoses that are occurring in Ward 2 of Barrie,” she said. “That’s based on (Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre emergency department) visit data and based on paramedic data that we have, as well as information from our community partners who work very closely with people who use substances.”
The search for a safe consumption site began in September 2019, when an advisory committee was struck. An online survey last October had more than 1,200 responses, Brown said, and Barrie councillors have been asked to weigh in on the two potential locations, along with those who own a business or live within 250 metres of the sites.
More community consultation will also take place through a virtual platform.
“Then we decide whether to go forward with two sites or whether to add a third option, in 2021,” Brown said.
The site also requires Health Canada approval, she said, but it is the province which would fund it.
