Support Harm Reduction in Leslieville

“On July 7, 2023, a horrible tragedy occurred in our neighbourhood, when a community member was killed in the middle of the day at Queen and Carlaw, a tragedy that left the community in shock.

This senseless tragedy has also brought increased attention to the South Riverdale Community Health Centre (SRCHC), located across the street from the site of the shooting. South Riverdale Community Health Centre has been an important part of the Leslieville community for 47 years, providing health and social services to vulnerable, marginalized, and disenfranchised members of the community since 1976.

Random acts of gun violence are scary and disturbing. However, gun violence is not caused by harm reduction services, and harm reduction services increase our neighbourhood safety, especially in the midst of a devastating overdose crisis that has taken the lives of so many community members.

SRCHC currently provides services to over 12,000 clients – critical health and social services from mental health supports to diabetes education; Indigenous Health Promotion; support for people living with complex, chronic conditions; access to food programs and programs for newcomers; and programs for people who use drugs and people who are struggling with addictions. SRCHC has won numerous awards, including for its health promotion work within the Chinese community and its harm reduction programs supporting people who use drugs.

South Riverdale Community Health Centre also opened one of the first Harm Reduction Programs in Toronto 25 years ago – CounterFIT. CounterFIT opened at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, in response to a strong need for harm reduction services for people who use drugs in the area. And after a feasibility study demonstrated a strong need for supervised injection sites in Toronto, in 2017 SRCHC opened one of Toronto’s first supervised consumption sites – keepSIX. keepSIX site reversed 129 overdose in 2022, demonstrating how South Riverdale Community Health Centre’s harm reduction programs and supervised consumption site have and continue to be a crucial part of the response to the drug toxicity overdose crisis that killed 2,500 people in Ontario in 2022, and continues to take the lives of 6 people in Ontario every day.

The relationships that are built at the Community Health Centre are incredibly valuable – providing people with access to primary care and social services, connecting clients to social workers, housing, and food programs, providing education programs and adapting services to the most pressing needs within the community. SRCHC also played a key role in the response on the ground to the COVID pandemic – ensuring that COVID testing and vaccinations were available to community members, conducting outreach in local shelters and providing community supports to ensure that some of our most vulnerable community members had access to vaccinations and much needed medical care.

With increased costs of housing and food, the collapse of the shelter system, huge waitlists to access affordable housing and addiction treatment services, and the inaccessibility of mental health supports, the services provided by the South Riverdale Community Health Centre are more needed than ever. Years of cuts to social services across Toronto have led to more community members needing support, and fewer services are available to help them. Leslieville has a long history as a working class and mixed-income community, and continues to be a diverse neighbourhood that includes community organizations, low-barrier services, and supportive housing. Research shows that community safety increases when harm reduction supports are expanded rather than reduced.