I am appealing to you as someone with firsthand experience of this urgent crisis.

 

I currently live in a homeless shelter and have witnessed the heartbreak of losing friends to preventable overdoses. As a harm reduction worker, I see every day how vital these services are. Removing them is not a policy decision — it's a death sentence.

Harm reduction saves lives. It gives people a chance to survive, to heal, and to find the support they need. In 2018, the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research estimated that harm reduction programs across Canada prevented 3,000 to 4,600 deaths. These numbers are not just statistics — they are human lives.

The closure of supervised consumption sites and the reduction of harm reduction funding in Ontario isn’t just a political matter. It’s a public health emergency that affects real people.

We need care, not punishment.

Before, we could be witnesses — trained, caring peers who monitored drug use, intervened in overdoses, and offered support in real time.

Now, that opportunity is being taken away. The ability to use under supervision is what saves lives. Without it, people are forced back into alleys, stairwells, and isolation — where no one can help them if they stop breathing.

We are not asking for luxury. We are asking to be allowed to keep people alive.

We urge the Ontario Government and health policymakers not to tear down these lifesaving services, but to invest in expanding them.

Stand with us — for survival, for dignity, for life. Please sign and share this petition.