THUNDER BAY — The head of NorWest Community Health Centres in Thunder Bay says her organization and its partners now know how much money the province has approved for them to deliver a range of social programs intended to replace consumption sites.
Chief executive officer Juanita Lawson said on Friday that Thunder Bay’s hub has been approved for $6.3 million annually for the next three years. NorWest is working with other community partners to deliver a range of social services under the province’s Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (or HART) Hub for Thunder Bay.
The local HART Hub is one of nine in the province that are set to launch on Tuesday; the first of new model that aims to bring resources around addictions, homelessness, employment, mental health and other social services under one program.
Calling April 1 a “soft launch,” Lawson said some programming by People Advocating for Change through Empowerment (PACE) will be ready. She added that bringing the new system online is a “complex transition.”
“We're going through significant hiring with all of the different partnering organizations,” she said. Some positions are more difficult to fill and the organization will continue to communicate with partners and the community throughout the roll-out, said Lawson.
PACE executive director Georgina McKinnon told Newswatch in January her organization will be providing peer support, advocacy and some educational services, along with its existing roles as a drop-in shelter, a warming and cooling centre and provider of some mental health and mindfulness supports.
In addition to that, said Lawson, PACE’s Victoria Avenue location will also become the site for some soon-to-be hired front-line staff, like registered practical nurses, nurse practitioners and outreach workers.
Of the $6.3 million, $1.3 million of that, she said, will go to the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board for the housing component of the program.
Better access to supportive housing through the program is something Lawson said she’s “really excited about.”
“Through that, is really continuing to provide, not only wraparound services for individuals who are in need, who might be experiencing substance use or mental health issues, but just really supporting people in housing so they can be successful in (that) housing with supports wrapped around them.”
Not all of the funding, however, has been released to NorWest yet, she said. The organization is the primary proponent for a network of partner organizations including PACE, Thunder Bay Counselling, St. Joseph's Care Group, Shelter House, Alpha Court and the local Elizabeth Fry Society. Lawson said it is her organization’s responsibility to disperse HART Hub funding to its partners.
“We're still actively working with Ontario Health and the ministry to really solidify the initial funding for 2025 and 2026 and then working on the funding and where it needs to be allocated for the following two years,” Lawson said.
Other community initiatives, she said, will also be “blended together,” as a sort of holistic community approach, like the recently-opened safe sobering beds at St. Joseph’s Care Group, the launch of the Superior North Specialized Treatment and Alternative Responders team and mobile drug supply testing.
“I think we're excited about that, so it's not just us as those who are funded, it's we still have a lot of work to do with all of our partners,” Lawson said.
The province began championing the HART Hub model, last year. At the same time, the government ordered the closure of Path 525 and nine other consumption and treatment service sites in Ontario that are within 200 metres from schools and childcare facilities.
The province prohibits HART Hubs from providing on-site supervised drug use and medical intervention or drug supply testing the way Path 525 has.
