Injection site helps clients cast their vote
The continuation of supervised injection services in Ontario could hinge on Thursday’s provincial election.
“We have a lot more to lose depending on how the election goes,” said Anne Marie Hopkins, the supervisor of peer outreach services at Ottawa Inner City Health, which runs the supervised injection trailer at Shepherds of Good Hope.
In a first for this election, health workers are reaching out to users of the supervised injection site to see who wants help voting on Thursday.
The future of supervised injection sites in Ontario is unclear under a potential PC government. Party leader Doug Ford has said he’s against them, but he has also said he would consult health experts on the matter. The party’s platform includes $3.8 billion for mental health, addictions and housing support.
Ottawa has four supervised injection sites operating with permission from the federal and provincial governments. As part of the federal application process, the Ontario health minister must write a letter of support for the proposed supervised injection service.
Provincial funding has also helped the sites operate. Ottawa Public Health endorses supervised injection sites as an effective response to the opioid crisis.
The federal government has also allowed provinces to open temporary overdose prevention sites as emergency measures, allowing organizations to quickly set up a supervised injection service. The Somerset West Community Health Centre opened an overdose prevention site last month.
Hopkins said that, at the Shepherds of Good Hope, two staff have been working extra shifts and working in their off-hours to help clients register to vote. In many cases, the clients don’t have identification or have lost their identification, on top of being homeless, so they don’t have a fixed address.
Elections Ontario allows executive directors of shelters and food banks to issue a certificate of identity and residency, enabling a homeless person to vote.
Hopkins said staff had helped 30 to 40 people with the voter paperwork as of Wednesday. Staff will be available to take clients to the polling station.
The election has been a topic of discussion in the supervised injection trailer, Hopkins said.
“Seeing this happen and seeing how serious clients are taking it, for me it’s a sense of community in the trailer,” she said.
Other shelters have also turned their attention to helping people vote.
Peter Tilley, executive director of The Ottawa Mission, said the shelter has a group that works with clients to make sure they ’re aware of the election.
Staff help clients without identification fulfil their voting registration requirements through an identification clinic as part of the intake process, he said.
“We immediately get them set up,” Tilley said.
Voting happens Thursday between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.