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Premier Doug Ford, health minister defend supervised consumption site closures

  • Liam Casey

    Liam Casey

  • Canadian Press

  • March 25, 2026

A sharps collector containing used needles sits on a wall in the consumption room at the Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre in Toronto on Friday, March 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his health minister are defending the decision to shutter more supervised drug consumption sites.

Two weeks ago, the province notified seven supervised consumption sites that it would be pulling their funding, with sites set to close by mid-June.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the province will not reconsider the closures.

Jones says they are having early success with a new abstinence-based model known as homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs.

Health-care workers, advocates and homeless people have decried the closures and say they will lead to more deaths.

Six former mayors of Toronto have urged Ford and Jones to reconsider their decision.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2026.