Health Canada approves safe injection sites in Toronto

TORONTO — Health Canada has approved three supervised injection sites in Toronto, and local officials expect they will be operational by the end of the year.

Necessary exemptions from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act have been granted for the clinics to operate, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said Friday in a news release.

Philpott said Canadian and international evidence shows that supervised injection sites save lives without increasing drug use or crime in the surrounding area. They are part of the government’s approach to combating the current overdose epidemic, she said.

The sites provide sterile equipment, information about drugs, basic health care and addiction treatment referrals.

“No single action is going to put an end to the mounting number of overdoses occurring across the country, and it is crucial that we work together and continue to explore new ways to help us reverse the course of this crisis,” Philpott said.

Last month, Health Canada approved plans to create four supervised injection sites — two in Surrey one in Vancouver and a mobile consumption site in Montreal.

East Coast premiers cool to reopening Constitution

OTTAWA — The premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick said Friday they have little interest in Quebec’s call to eventually reopen constitutional talks.

New Brunswick’s Brian Gallant and Newfoundland’s Dwight Ball were in Ottawa meeting separately with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who also is cold to the idea.

“We consider Quebec as a friend to Newfoundland and Labrador and to all the other provinces,” Ball told reporters, “but the prime minister has already said he didn’t want to reopen the Constitution.”

For his part, Gallant said his government has more pressing issues.

“Us, in New Brunswick, we are concentrated on education, the economy and health care,” he said.

Both premiers, however, said they were willing to talk with Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

Feds paid $707,000 in fees after child welfare decision

OTTAWA — The federal justice minister’s office said it spent $707,000 in legal fees following a landmark human rights tribunal decision on First Nations child welfare.

Charlie Angus, a New Democrat MP and leadership candidate, questioned why the legal tab was necessary.

A spokesperson for Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett says the government is implementing the tribunal’s original decision and all legal fees incurred since the decision relate to responding to orders from the quasi-judicial body.