{"id":18499,"date":"2018-10-01T12:04:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=18499"},"modified":"2018-10-01T12:04:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:04:14","slug":"1265-crosses-planted-at-queens-park-to-push-province-to-end-freeze-on-life-saving-overdose-prevention-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/local\/gta\/1265-crosses-planted-at-queens-park-to-push-province-to-end-freeze-on-life-saving-overdose-prevention-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"1,265 crosses planted at Queen\u2019s Park to push province to end freeze on \u2018life-saving\u2019 overdose prevention sites"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Queen\u2019s Park lawn was staked with 1,265 wooden crosses on Monday, representing the people in Ontario who died due to drug overdose last year.<\/p>\n

The vigil, hosted by the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society (TOPS), comes two days after the\u00a0province asked the federal government\u00a0<\/a>for an extension as it assesses the future of safe injection sites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe have come to remind the government of what is at stake with their current \u2018review\u2019, and commemorate the much-loved members of our community that we have lost,\u201d TOPS said in a release.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedical and public health experts, as well as everyday Ontarians across the province have been calling on the government to stop this waiting game and confirm that they will allow these life-saving services to remain open,\u201d TOPS said in the release.<\/p>\n

According to Health Canada,\u00a01,265 Ontarians died of an apparent opioid-related death in 2017<\/a>. In the first three months of 2018, there were 317 such deaths in the province, also according to Health Canada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That number puts 2018 on track to match or exceed the number of deaths last year, TOPS said.<\/p>\n

Two months after Ontario\u2019s June election, Ontario health minister Christine Elliott\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that the opening of three new overdose-prevention sites intended to help fight the opioid crisis would be put on hold. Along with the freeze, the province launched a review of harm-reduction practices and assessment of the whether the sites \u201chave merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Elliot asked Ottawa for an extension on the review.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe continue to take the ongoing opioid crisis very seriously. I have reviewed the latest data, evidence and current site models, visited various sites and held consultations,\u201d said Health Minister Christine Elliott in a written release Friday. \u201cI am now in the process of finalizing my recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, TOPS asked the government to wrap up the review, calling it \u201cunnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The organization is also urging the government to open the three sites \u2014 located in Toronto\u2019s Parkdale neighbourhood, Thunder Bay and St. Catherines \u2014 that had been approved by the previous Liberal government and process the five overdose prevention site applications that were submitted before the review was announced.<\/p>\n

Before Elliot announced the extension last week, Premier Doug Ford said he expected to provide the public with a final decision \u201cnext week.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Queen\u2019s Park lawn was staked with 1,265 wooden crosses on Monday, representing the people in Ontario who died due to drug overdose last year. The vigil, hosted by the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society (TOPS), comes two days after the\u00a0province asked the federal government\u00a0for an extension as it assesses the future of safe injection sites. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3538],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/afwqueensparkcrosses01.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}