At Issue: Supervised Consumption Saves Lives Advocacy group

Supervised Consumption Saves lives is a collection of Barrie locals who are fighting for the life-saving service to be brought downtown. That’s a position backed up by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, who stated supervised consumption sites are integral in the fight against the toxic drug supply. 

Holly McDaniel, a lead organizer with SCSL, says their mission is to help educate the public -- and point them towards the health experts who have proposed solutions to the problem. 

“I don’t want people to listen to myself,” said McDaniel.”I want them to listen to Dr. Simon, when she’s giving her presentation to council, and giving us the facts. When we hire experts, and we spend the money on these things, why do we turn around and reject it?”

Barrie’s City Council delayed the site selection process in 2019 -- and since then over 150 people have died in the Simcoe Muskoka region due to the unregulated supply of opioids.

SCSL started a petition calling for a site in the city’s downtown -- with nearly 700 signatures. 

But many say the conversation shouldn't be a debate -- the science and health advice is clear: these services save lives and make our city safer. 

That’s the group's focus: confronting stigma and misunderstanding says Christine Nayler whose son lost his life to the toxic supply.

“When we start to see them as human beings, we see this is a medical issue,” says Nayler. 

As the conversation around an SCS site in downtown Barrie continues, one local group is holding a vigil to remember the lives lost to the toxic drug supply in our town.

Jeffrey Dale, the youth ministries coordinator at Grace United Church, says the crisis of unregulated Opioids reflects Canada’s unwillingness to help the most vulnerable. 

“If somebody is not part of the heteronormative society, the normative way in which society acts, this is how society treats them when there’s a health crisis in their lives,” said Dale.

“It’s about time we start to correct the way in which we treat the most marginalized.”

Barrie’s Downtown BIA has publicly opposed the site, as recorded in official meeting minutes from September 2020. 

While no one at the BIA responded for comment, Kelly McKenna, chairperson of the board, sent an emailed response. 

“The Downtown Barrie BIA understands the impact the opioid crisis is having on our city. We have seen the data and we know our members witness related issues firsthand daily. The opioid issue affects those with addictions, as well as our community’s first responders, business owners, and residents,” wrote McKenna in a statement. 

While she insists the BIA is not opposed to an SCS site, current chairperson Rob Hamilton is recorded in a September meeting clearly advocating against a site being positioned downtown. 

He is recorded using multiple derogatory phrases and terms when speaking about people who reside in, and frequent, Barrie's downtown. 

SCSL Barrie is holding a vigil, on February 15th, to fight stigma and allow people to mourn the loss of lives due to the toxic drug supply.