The federal government is spending nearly $1.2 million toward helping the City of Ottawa deal with the toxic drug crisis.
In a memo sent Tuesday, general manager of Community and Social Services Clara Freire said the complexity of the toxic drug crisis means that no single level of government can tackle it alone.
“Recognizing the complex nature of the toxic drug crisis, projects will be funded through two streams,” Freire said.
Public Safety Canada will be giving the city just under $500,000. Freire said the money will allow the city to launch a “safe spaces pilot project.
“The initiative will engage individuals in structured, low-barrier activities such as art, sports, and music as well as life skill training. These programs aim to provide alternatives to street engagement and reduce pressure on public spaces, and ease demand on over-capacity day services,” Freire wrote.
The funding will be split among Operation Come Home ($91,163), Ottawa Inner City Health ($121,643), the Shepherds of Good Hope ($27,940), the Centretown Community Health Centre ($120,893), the Ottawa Paramedic Service ($65,200), and Community and Social Services ($71,801).
Health Canada is providing approximately $650,000 to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), to strengthen Ottawa’s cross-sectoral approach to the toxic drug crisis, Freire said.
The CCSA will spend the next year working with the city and community partners to provide research, assessment, and strategic planning support.
“The project will review current systems, data, and partnerships, including national comparables, and identify short-term actions to improve outcomes within existing resources,” Freire wrote. “Its goal is to develop a framework that enables the city and its partners to respond more effectively to this complex, unpredictable crisis, and create a model that can then be replicated by other jurisdictions across Canada.”
The memo Tuesday comes following the Mayor’s Breakfast on Dec. 8 with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, during which Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a set of local measures in the capital, including funding for a pilot project to help address substance use crises in the city.
“By shifting efforts towards innovative, community-driven approaches and piloting new ways of tackling the problem, the Government of Canada and the City of Ottawa can work towards solutions that create a safer, more resilient city and that can be shared across the country,” Freire said.
