Ontario doubles down on HART model as Thunder Bay’s overdose crisis remains among province’s worst

TORONTO – NEWS – Ontario is moving ahead with another major shift in addiction policy, announcing it will end provincial funding for seven supervised consumption sites in communities already served by Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment hubs.

For Thunder Bay, the announcement matters because the city has already been pushed into that model — and because local opioid deaths remain at some of the highest rates in Ontario.

Province says the focus is treatment, housing and recovery

In Monday’s announcement, the Ford government said it will begin a 90-day wind-down of funding for seven active sites — two in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one each in Niagara, Peterborough and London. Queen’s Park says the goal is to move people into treatment and recovery through HART hubs instead of continuing to fund supervised consumption services.

The province says it has invested almost $550 million in 28 HART hubs, with 27 now operating, that the hubs have already logged more than 100,000 client interactions, and that the model will add close to 900 supportive housing units across Ontario.

The government is also tying the move to a broader crackdown already underway. Ontario’s 2024 legislation created a 200-metre buffer barring supervised consumption sites near schools and child-care centres, while the Safer Municipalities Act, 2025 added enforcement tools aimed at public consumption of illegal substances. Ontario says the shift also fits within its Roadmap to Wellness plan, backed by $3.8 billion over 10 years for mental health and addictions care.

Thunder Bay has already been moved into the HART system

In Thunder Bay, this is less a new change than confirmation of the province’s direction. PATH 525, Northern Ontario’s only supervised consumption site, closed on March 31, 2025. Ontario’s own backgrounder listed NorWest Community Health Centres in Thunder Bay among the sites transitioning into the HART model, and local service listings now show the HART hub operating at 409 George St. with access to primary care, addictions services, mental health supports, housing case management and cultural services.

Thunder Bay numbers show why the stakes are so high

The local numbers are stark. Office of the Chief Coroner data show the Thunder Bay census subdivision recorded 80 opioid toxicity deaths in 2024, with a mortality rate of 69.14 per 100,000 — the highest among Ontario census subdivisions with populations above 30,000. Separate local reporting, citing Thunder Bay District Health Unit data for the broader region, put the 2024 toll at 86 deaths, including 31 people who were experiencing homelessness.

Deaths are only part of the picture. The Thunder Bay District Health Unit says the district has higher rates of opioid-related emergency department visits than Ontario overall. A Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction review said local emergency health service calls for suspected opioid overdose increased from January to September 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier, and that emergency department visits also rose.

Local health unit data found fentanyl was present in 90 per cent of Thunder Bay’s 2024 opioid overdose deaths.

Why this policy debate lands differently in Thunder Bay

That leaves Thunder Bay as a real-world test of the province’s argument. Queen’s Park says treatment, supportive housing and recovery-focused care will do more to break addiction and improve public safety than supervised consumption sites.

In a city where overdose deaths remain exceptionally high, fentanyl dominates the toxic drug supply and emergency responses have stayed elevated, the practical measure will not be the press release language — it will be whether the HART model reduces deaths, eases strain on front-line services and reaches people before another fatal overdose.

That question carries added weight in Thunder Bay because the city’s addiction, homelessness and health systems already serve a much wider northern catchment than the city limits alone.

What to watch next

For Thunder Bay readers, the immediate local reality does not change Monday: the supervised consumption site is already gone, and the HART hub is already in place. What does change is the political signal.

Ontario is making clear that the Thunder Bay model is no longer a transition experiment but the province’s preferred system. In a community still posting one of Ontario’s worst opioid death rates, that decision will be judged on outcomes, not intent.