Fort Frances is not obtaining one of the new centers for the recovery treatment of Homebresses and Ontario addictions, but local leaders do not give up, but promote an enveloping support strategy for the most vulnerable in the community.
The Hart Hubs, announced for the first time in the summer, They are intended to provide primary care, job support and mental health, addiction and social services.
They are replacing a series of supervised consumption sites in Ontario that are being forced to close at the end of March Due to new rules that say they cannot be within 200 meters of schools or child care centers. The legality of the next sites of the sites is He is currently challenged in court.
Thunder Bay has the only remaining supervised consumer site in the northwest of Ontario. The 525 road is It is expected to be replaced by a Hart center next month.
More west, Kenora will also open a Hart center this spring. However, the Rainy River Services District Board (DRRSB) says that its application in Fort Frances was rejected.
“In case another round of Hart Hub funds are available to apply it, absolutely, we will apply it,” said Sandra Weir, DRRSB Integrated Services Manager.
“But we still want to maintain the concept of being able to have enveloping services.”
One of the ways in which the DRRSB aims to do this is through the transition house of hope (housing, opportunity, progress, empowerment) in Fort Frances, which was inaugurated in mid -February. The house, a renewed church, consists of six beds where people can stay up to a year and receive support on the site while looking to change in long -term housing.
“It is a critical step between stability and self -sufficiency,” Weir said about transition housing. “It provides not only a roof for people who need some support, but also gives them access to resources within the community.”
The Church also houses the city Safe bed programDirected by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), for people who experience a mental health or addiction crisis. In the winter, it houses the Cold Heating Center.
Hart Hub would be ‘well -spent money’
The Hart Hub model has received Criticism to get away from a damage reduction approach to addiction, and instead encourage a model based on abstinence.
Unlike supervised consumer sites, Hart Hubs will not allow supervised drug consumption, safer supply or needle exchange programs.
The Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, says that Ontario will prohibit supervised consumption sites within 200 meters of schools and child care centers. He also announced $ 378 million for new homeless treatment centers and addiction recovery (Hart).
For Weir, what attracts you about the Hart Hubs is how they allow a list of supports under the same roof.
It is known that ninety -four people in the DRRSB name list experience the lack of housing in the Rainy River district, he said.
While around 19,400 people live throughout the district, Fort Frances is the service center of the area, with a population of approximately 7,400 people.
Due to its size and number of people in the surrounding communities and the first nations it serves, the border city faces many challenges when it comes to helping those in need, said Weir.
Andrew Hallikas, the mayor of the city and vice president of the DRRSB, said he was disappointed when Hart Hub request was rejected, but “that will not deter us.”
He said he hopes that the province will reconsider the community in the next round of applications.
“It really helps if you can concentrate your services in a location and it really helps when you have several organizations working together so as not to double the services,” Hallikas said. “We really thought that a Hart Center in Fort Frances would be well spent money.”
The DRRSB has renewed the third floor of Hope Transitional House, and although it does not have funds to expand even more at this point, Weir said that he eventually expects to bring more centralized services there.
“We know that with enveloping services, people will receive the support they need in several ways because many times, it is not just one thing.
“It could be a medical care problem, a mental health problem, an addiction problem: it could be something traumatic that has happened, that they need the support of different agencies to be able to advance and succeed within our community,” he said.
