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PURSUANT TO SECTION 4.16 OF PROCEDURAL BY-LAW 2013-072, CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERED A REQUEST BY MS. LIZ SAUL TO PROVIDE AN EMERGENCY DEPUTATION IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION 19-G-049 CONCENRING ONGOING OPIOID OVERDOES CRISIS IN CANADA. UPON A VOTE OF CITY COUNCIL BEING TAKEN, MS. SAUL WAS PERMITTED TO ADDRESS CITY COUNCIL.
DEPUTATION BY LIZ SAUL REGARDING MOTION 19-G-049, ONGOING OPIOID OVERDOSE CRISIS IN CANADA
Ms. Liz Saul provided a deputation in opposition to motion 19-G-049 concerning the Ongoing Opioid Overdose Crisis in Canada, related to the portion of the motion that requests the Federal and Provincial funding to support, enhance, and expand evidence-based treatment and rehabilitation services, addiction prevention and education, and harm reduction measures.
Ms. Saul advised that she was the spokesperson for the Barrie Downtown Community Coalition that is a group of residents that live or own businesses in the downtown area. She expressed her concerns associated with what constitutes evidence based thinking and what areas of harm reduction are being referred to in the motion. Ms. Saul advised she is very concerned with the proposal for a Supervised Consumption Site in the downtown area. She commented that she feels that Council needs to acknowledge the concerns of the people and business owners that have observed the impact of the opioid crisis on the downtown.
Ms. Saul reviewed several concerns that she has related to a possible Supervised Consumption Site in the downtown area. She advised that she believes that there are many vulnerable populations in the downtown area such as seniors, low-income residents and people with disabilities and health challenges and she noted her concerns associated with the affect Supervised Consumption Site would have on the safety in this area.
Ms. Saul expressed her concerns about the overdose statistics and in particular those related to the downtown area. She also discussed the statistics attributed to the homeless residents to the downtown area.
Ms. Saul advised that she believes more information and site specific details are needed before the community can provide an educated opinion on the need for a Supervised Consumption Site and she indicated that she does not believe there is enough information to warrant a site to be located in the downtown area. She noted that she believes there is insufficient research and information on the potential effect on surrounding businesses, homes and people, which should be considered. Ms. Saul provided her thoughts, concerns and observations on the Supervised Consumption Sites in other cities such as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto and the potential impacts of a site being located in downtown Barrie.
In summary, Ms. Saul requested that the concerns she addressed, on behalf of the Barrie Downtown Community Coalition, be considered by Council.
A member of Council asked a question of Ms. Saul and received a response.