Petition launched
Cambridge man fights arrival of men’s addiction treatment centre
CAMBRIDGE — An online petition protesting the opening of a men’s addiction treatment centre in a Cambridge neighbourhood has garnered more than 3,500 signatures in just a week, but the centre’s executive director says there’s inaccurate information being circulated.
Last week, Michael Dos Santos of Cambridge created a petition protesting the planned Concession Road location of a House of Friendship men’s addiction treatment centre. He says it’s too close to a child-care centre and schools, including a school down the road that his daughters attend.
“I know both sides of the situation; I’ve been an addict and I’ve been clean for four years,” said Dos Santos, a single father of three young girls.
“I know this is a disaster putting that place right there because relapse is a part of it.”
In a paragraph online describing the petition, Dos Santos calls the facility a “homeless shelter that houses and services occupants with mental health and addictions issues.”
But that is not the case, said John Neufeld, executive director of the House of Friendship.
“There’s a lot of misinformation in the actual petition, so that was our concern,” said Neufeld, adding that the facility is not a shelter.
Neufeld said he contacted Dos Santos to hear his concerns and to clarify incorrect information in the petition.
“It’s a drug-free environment,” said Neufeld. “It’s a residential treatment centre and so … people are voluntarily going there because they want treatment … there’s requirements of coming in sober and not using.”
Since 1975 the House of Friendship has run a men’s residential addition treatment program from an old farmhouse on King Street North in Waterloo. The house is overcrowded, with little outdoor space.
Last year the House of Friendship purchased the Cambridge property where a women’s shelter, Haven House, used to be. It is on Concession Road, south of Eagle Street North. Right now the organization is finalizing drawings and construction plans for renovations to the facility, which will offer in-patient and day services.
The building will offer four times more indoor space and 10 times more outdoor space than the Waterloo farmhouse.
“We’ve been in Waterloo, right by a school in a residential neighbourhood … we’ve been there more than 40 years,” said Neufeld. “(We’ve) had no issues in the neighbourhood.”
Neufeld said the House of Friendship is part of the solution to a rising concern of drug use in the city.
“I think there’s a fear, communities have a fear that sometimes by bringing in services it will bring in problems,” said Neufeld. “It’s actually the polar opposite — problems get exacerbated when you don’t have enough services in the community and so we need more kinds of services in Cambridge to assist.”
In an interview on Thursday, Dos Santos acknowledged that he mistakenly called the facility a homeless shelter in the petition, but said his concerns remain the same.
Dos Santos said he will bring the petition to Cambridge city council and Waterloo regional council in November.