HART Hub funding sparks fierce debate at Timmins city council

Addictions treatment was front and centre in Timmins on Tuesday night as city councillors had plenty of questions about a planned Homelessness and Addictions Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub at the former Ramada Inn on Riverside Drive.

Following a request by council to explain the hub model and its impacts on the neighbourhood, Jean Carrière of Cochrane District Services Board and Paul Jalbert of the Canadian Mental Health Association Cochrane-Timiskaming were questioned about exactly what is being proposed.

Concerns are centred on whether the HART Hub would primarily be a treatment centre or a homeless shelter. The city's Living Space Shelter became extremely controversial because of negative impacts on the neighbourhood, and there are worries the hub will have the same impact.

After a lengthy debate, a separate resolution from Coun. Bill Gvozdanovic calling for the city to not support the hub or its proposed location at the old Ramada Inn was defeated in a tie vote.

Former mayor Steve Black, who sits on the Cochrane District Services Board, said he still had many concerns.

"I’m going to be completely honest with you, this is probably the toughest night I’ve had coming into council in my 10 years in municipal politics," Black said.

"I’ve been super supportive of the need of a … full-scale treatment centre since I ran again to come back to council."

Communities across the country have been looking for treatment centres that address mental health and addictions, he said. But people are worried that the hub be another homeless shelter.

"I believe 90 per cent of the community would be supportive if they felt that this was people going to get help, checking into a facility, staying clean and going through whatever the requirements are to transition back into formal housing," he said.

The Ramada Inn in Timmins is poised to become a Health Hub. (Lydia Chubak/CTV News Northern Ontario)

Lack of trust

"The challenges are again the trust in that’s what it’s going to be. I’m not sure you’ve instilled that tonight although you’ve given the direction you want to go."

"I’m a little disappointed in that I will no longer call this a treatment centre because I don’t get the feeling that it’s a treatment centre but more of a supportive service to the treatment centres in the current demographic," he added.

"Part of the centre will be a treatment centre another part will be supportive housing," replied Carrière.

"There’s not 40 agencies working under one roof at the Hart Hub, let’s be clear on that. It’s not 40 agencies moving to Timmins and providing services. The 40 agencies that we’re talking about are across two districts and they include the James Bay."

Gvozdanovic said residents are skeptical about what they are being told and worry about what will happen should the hub open.

"My biggest concern, and Coun. Black says it perfectly, is credibility," he said.

'It all stems back to the shelter'

"Trust, confidence, the whole nine yards and it all stems back to the shelter and this whole area right here and the people that are suffering in this area, the residents that are going through it. What does this facility do? If there are 300 people hypothetically in the point-in-time count, what does it do to help these people? And if we help these people are there going to be more people coming? Does it just keep going and going?"

Carrière said the $20 million they’re seeking for the HART Hub application would address both mental health and addiction needs of clients.

Mayor Michelle Boileau said the hub will address gaps in service, including helping addicts after they have received treatment.

"There is capacity for addiction withdrawal management in our community and where there is currently a gap in the ongoing services and aftercare services because, as was alluded to tonight, recovery is a journey," Boileau said.

"It’s not two days, it’s not 28 days, it could be a lifetime."

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"We want to connect to primary care, nurse practitioners, family physicians -- it’s a need for individuals accessing these services along with addiction and mental health services that go along with it," said Jalbert.

"The need for land-based services is incredibly important and it can’t be minimized traditional healing, the affects, the outcomes for individuals who get to benefit and those are some of the benefits I’m talking about."

Boileau said getting support after receiving treatment for addictions is vital. She has two family members who had to go to southern Ontario for treatment "to get started on their recovery journey."

"Both of them did require aftercare after, and luckily due to their circumstances, they were able to access the supports and services they need,” said Mayor Michelle Boileau.

In the meantime, a petition in the community has garnered more than 1,300 signatures calling on the proposal to be withdrawn.