Waterloo Region Drug Action Team

Add another one to the great big board of "Urban Planning Debates: Academic Research vs. Some Guy"

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Confronting Fear-Based Politics – Drug Policy, Borders and Migration . After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. In times of uncertainty, politicians scapegoat marginalized communities—blaming groups like migrants and people who use drugs for complex societal challenges. From the creation of a "fentanyl czar" to...

[Webinar] Explore how drug policy & migration intersect, the rights & freedoms at stake, & what it takes to build policies that protect people—amid fear-driven politics from “fentanyl czar” to Bills C-2 & C-12, & Canada’s complicity in U.S. actions abroad.

Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Ontario Cities Are Clearing Homeless Encampments. Where Are People Supposed to Go? Amidst a housing crisis with no end in sight, municipalities across the province have been cracking down on the unhoused

Sharing this article again because it's the culmination of a few months of work from me - and people should be reading about it.

Lots of talk in Ontario - and a genuine absence of provincial interest in activating evidence-based solutions like... housing.

11/2024: "We are going to make sure we find proper shelter for these people."
- Premier Doug Ford

06/2025: Bill 6, jail and fines for folks in encampments

This morning:

UPDATE: The Government of Ontario has now formally voted AGAINST creating a plan to eliminate homelessness within 10 years. Data from across Ontario continues to reflect the absence of provincial success. Gratitude to @aislinnclancy.bsky.social for your efforts to #ProtectOntario

Last night the Housing Ends Homelessness Act (Bill 28) was debated at Queens Park. The Bill sought a provincial strategy to coordinate and activate solutions to end homelessness within 10yrs. PC MPPs spoke against the Bill and is expected to die today in a formal vote.

cc: @ericwickham.ca

#BREAKING
The P.C.-led Government of Ontario has just voted AGAINST ending homelessness within 10 years via the Housing Ends Homeless Act, legislation supported by Greens, Liberal, and NDP MPPs.

Bill 28: www.ola.org/en/legislati...

Cambridge, Ontario:
"A place for people to prosper - alive with opportunity."

www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/c...

Court rules in favour of Kitchener encampment residents, pausing plans to evict them The Region of Waterloo’s plans to evict residents at a Kitchener encampment have been put on hold after a judge ruled in favour of the residents.

"Region cannot enforce encampment-clearing bylaw until after November hearing decision." - CTV News

Check out the news segment at bit.ly/47alX8W

Great new!👍The Court has granted an injunction for the 100Vic Encampment Case! The Region is restrained from enforcing its Site-Specific By-law until the constitutionality of the bylaw can be determined following the hearing in November.

Read the decision at: wrcls.ca/3878-2

BREAKING: Judge sides with encampment residents, pausing Waterloo Region’s eviction plans The Superior Court of Ontario has ruled in favour of the residents at the Victoria Street encampment in downtown Kitchener, pausing any plans to remove them from the site.

Injunction!

May the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prevail. Huge gratitude due to @wrlegalservices.bsky.social and many more.

www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

Doug Ford was asked about misrepresenting crime stats in Somerset Ward and showed that he doesn’t even know where our neighbourhood is on a map.

Ontario misled the public on crime data to justify closing supervised consumption sites. Evidence shows these services save lives & improve community safety. #HarmReduction tinyurl.com/ybuhw3hf

the media reported that at the time, a year ago.

is there any reason to believe that facts are suddenly relevant now? this is a serious question.

www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

Is Chinatown safer without a supervised consumption site? Neighbours say no | CBC News Two months after Somerset West Community Health Centre closed its injection site, neighbours say they've witnessed a surge in public drug use.

The closure of the supervised consumption site has made the community less safe. With no place to go, people are using drugs on the street and closer to children. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Yesterday, @cmckenney.bsky.social
and I confronted Health Minister Sylvia Jones about the unsubstantiated statistics that she used to justify closing the supervised consumption site at the Somerset West Community Health Centre.

"We are going to make sure we find proper shelter for these people." - Premier Doug Ford, 2024 #ProtectOntario #AMO2025

Last year at #AMO the province and a handful of radical mayors made a raging tragedy worse by defunding #CTS #SCS sites, benefiting no one. Lest we forget. #ProtectOntario

25,000 un-prevented #overdose deaths - and so many injuries - since the Ontario government came to Queen’s Park in 2018 and made a preventable crisis much worse, for everyone, everywhere. Ontario's PC drug policies remain deadly in 2025- OBVIOUSLY. #IOAD2025 #ProtectOntario #Onmuni #AMO2025

One year after the #ONgov's #AMO announcement to abandon evidence-based public service and defund #CTS #SCS sites - over the unequivocal advice of internal and external advisors and then some - @jackhauen.bsky.social follows up. #ProtectOntario

READ: www.cambridgetoday.ca/local-news/o...

In St. Mary's, ON? Consider going to support this IOAD event! Flag raising and speakers starting at 9:30am EST, Aug. 31st.

Please see poster for more details.

Tuesday August 12, 6:30pm onwards. Roos Island, Willow Park, Kitchener.

kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/08/11/w...

"Other users named in the documents include municipal police in Edmonton, Waterloo, Hamilton, Saskatoon & York, the provincial police forces in ON and QC, the ON and Toronto police unions and every ministry of the ON govt"

August 12, 6:30pm onwards. Come!

The harm reduction community has been hit hard this year. We've lost friends, family, life saving services and parts of ourselves to policies that continue to fail us. But still, we gather. Still, we care for one another. Still, we resist.

"We cannot continue to claim we are pursuing a human rights-based approach if, at critical moments like these, we refuse to take responsibility for meaningful change and fail to act in accordance with the very principles we proclaim ourselves wishing to uphold."

#HumanRIghts #Unsheltered

Today, during a heatwave, Cambridge bylaw and police used heavy machinery to throw out 4 unhoused peoples personal belongings. With no suitable shelter options, they face serious health risks. Evictions should be paused during extreme weather. Learn a better way: homelesshub.ca/book/office-...

Support Don't Punish. Care Not Criminalization. June 26. 1PM Pacific time.

All the many group logos of participating groups: MSTHL, CSSDP, CDPC, HRNA, DSDP, and many others.

@hivlegalnetwork.bsky.social and @hracollective.bsky.social are co-hosting a series of incredible speakers from across the country to mark the annual Global Day of Action!

REGISTER HERE: www.eventbrite.ca/e/care-not-c...

#SupportDontPunish #HarmReduction #CareNotCriminalization

Our new resource – created in partnership with @pivotlegalsociety.bsky.social and @candrugpolicy.bsky.social lays out the legal implications of operating an Overdose Prevention Site in Ontario and protections for operators and patrons.

www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/it-is-n...

📢 New study shows safe supply saves lives.
Research in ON found people on safer opioid supply (like hydromorphone) had fewer overdoses, ER visits & deaths, even those with complex health needs.
It’s not either/or with methadone. We need both.
#SupportDontPunish #SafeSupplyWorks

Committee cutting funding to drug strategy this year A committee has decided to stop funding its integrated drug strategy, opting to redirect those funds to HART Hubs.

Region doubles down on defunding doublespeak, WR DAT disagrees.

kitchener.citynews.ca/2025/06/11/r...