Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) at Parkdale Queen West Community Health to close

In late October 2025, the members of UFCW Local 175 at Parkdale Queen West Community Health learned that the Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) at that location was to close. President Kelly Tosato sent the following letter of concern to the Honorable Sylvia Jones, Minister of Health Cc: France Gélinas, Critic, Health Cc: Robin Lennox, Critic, Mental Health, Addictions and Primary Care on November 3, 2025.

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On October 24, 2025, UFCW Local 175 members working at Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre were informed that the supervised consumption site (SCS) at Parkdale is scheduled to close at the end of next month. This decision will negatively impact both the unionized workers at the facility, and the clients who utilize the services. The facts are that since the pandemic, homelessness in the city has doubled to crisis level. Since late May 2025 after the closure of five supervised consumption sites in Toronto, Parkdale has seen a 50% increase in the number of individuals accessing their site.

These closures have created new, and exacerbated already existing challenges for the remaining support services. Neighbourhood tension is heightened, leading to increased complaints from residents about safety, public drug use, discarded drug paraphernalia, and health and safety concerns related to lack of after-hours washroom facilities. The defunding of the Parkdale SCS will have a horrific impact on their clients, and the community. We fear that the decision to close the Parkdale SCS will not be the last of the closures.

We support the development of Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, but these new services cannot replace — or justify abandoning — community-based harm reduction and Supervised Consumption Services in areas that people actually live. Both are needed along with supportive housing and wrap-around care that the government itself has said is required.

Closing a life-saving service without offering an alternative may satisfy those who see it as a problem, but the impact of this decision will cost lives, increase community tensions, and deepen the inequities our province is already struggling to contain. We urge the government to review and reverse the decision to close Parkdale, and other supervised consumption sites who provide services that will not be replaced with HART Hubs.

In solidarity, Kelly Tosato President, UFCW Local 175

UFCW Locals 175 & 633 Executive Board and staff took part in a Lobby Day at Queen’s Park on October 29. Learn more here.

Meaningful reform of Primary Care funding needed: A letter to the Minister of Health – September 2025.