Lowertown residents balk at pop-up drug tent in park

People living near a pop-up drug use site in Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhoodwant the tents moved and the future home of Ottawa's first sanctioned supervised injection site may have a solution.

On Friday, Overdose Prevention Ottawasetup a space inRaphael Brunet Parkfor people to use drugs under supervision. Organizers described the tents as"first aid" for people at risk of overdosing.

The unsanctioned "overdose prevention site," as it's being called,followsthe lead of similar initiativesin Toronto and Vancouver.

• Pop-up drug use site set up in Raphael Brunet Park

The tents have tables, chairs and supplies of naloxone anopioidoverdose antidote and isstaffed by volunteers who are able to support drug users and help them in case of an emergency.

'Not where the demand is'

However, some nearby residents say the site which has not been sanctioned by Health Canada needs to go.

"It's in the middle of a family neighbourhood. It's not where the demand is," said Michel Valle, a former vice-president of the Lowertown Community Association who lives a short walk from the site.

"It's also right behind a community centre that is extremely [well] used by youth and adults."

Valle said he and a handful of his neighboursplan to raise the issue at the next community association meeting and have already shared their concerns with Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who represents the area.

"We're not against the principle of a safe injection site," said Valle. "But there's a legal way to do it, and a good medical way to do it. And I don't think this is the way to do it."

Fleury was unavailable for comment Saturday.

No overdoses first night

In an emailSaturday, Marilou Gagnon, an associate professor with the University of Ottawa's school of nursing and the main spokesperson for Overdose Prevention Ottawa,declined a request for an interview. She saidthe group needed to "focus on training and operations" over the weekend.

However, she did tell CBC News that11 people used the site during a two-hour period Friday evening, and promised to provide an update on Monday.

No one overdosed on Friday, she said in the email. She calledthe first day of the site's operation an "outstanding success."

Gagnonhad previously said that her grouprelied on the expertise of outreach workers in choosingRaphael Brunet Park to open the sitebecause it is near the epicentre ofOttawa's drug using population.

Sandy Hill CHC offers up parking lot

The site popped-up just as the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, about 15 blocks away, is in the final stages of opening its own federally-approved supervised injection site.

David Gibson, the centre's executive director, told CBC News that,on Saturday morning, he hadoffered Overdose Prevention Ottawa the parking lot of the centre's Nelson Street location as an alternate to the park.

In many respects, they've made a very good political point.- David Gibson, executive director of the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre

"We own the property. Itis part of our health centre's physical site. So that would give them also an option that would prevent any issues related to bylaw infractions or potential police intervention," Gibson said.

Ottawa police officers were at the parkon Fridayobserving, butmostly left the workers alone. Policetold organizers that someone had filed a bylaw complaint, claiming the unsanctioned site was operating without a permit.

Overdose Prevention Ottawasaid they had no plans to relocate Saturday evening.

Althoughhe hadn't toured the Raphael Brunet Park site, Gibson said he had seen enough photos and videos of the tentsin operationto allaysome of theconcerns he hadexpressed before the site had opened.

"This isn't about us saying we don't support them. In fact, quite the opposite we want to support them. And I think, in many respects, they've made a very good political point," Gibson said.

"The sense is people are dying or overdosing needlessly because we don't have easy access to sites like this."

Request to speed up process

After years of talks, the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre received approval from Health Canada in late July for theirsupervised injection site.

The initial plan was to open the site in October, but Gibson said Saturday the centre was now trying to expedite the process after seeing Overdose Prevention Ottawa's site in action.

Health Canada's approval is conditional upon a "final site inspection," he said. The centre istrying to get the go-ahead to open, and have that inspection carried out later similar to what Toronto Public Health officials wereable to accomplish after a similar pop-up site opened in that city's downtown earlier this month.

• Toronto Public Health gets approval to open interim supervised-injection site

The Sandy Hill centreis also trying to speed up provincial approval of both its operating budget and the cost of its renovations, he said.

If everything falls into place,Ottawa's firstsupervised injection site couldopen within two weeks, he said.