An Ottawa community association is worried about inadequate oversight of the city’s safer supply services now that the federal government has stopped funding them.
“There’s not really any oversight,” said Calla Barnett, who leads the Community and Social Services Committee for Action Sandy Hill. The community association supports residents of the urban Sandy Hill and Lower Town districts, which encompass Ottawa’s historic ByWard Market and University of Ottawa campus.
“There’s no funding mechanism to push on them, so there’s no accountability,” Barnett said.
In March, the federal government ceased funding the city’s safer supply pilot project, which had involved eight partner organizations. Safer supply programs dispense prescription opioids to people who use drugs as an alternative to toxic street drugs.
Today, just two businesses — Recovery Care Clinic and Respect Rx Pharmacy — continue prescribing and dispensing safer supply opioids in the Sandy Hill and Lower Town neighbourhoods. It is unclear who oversees these two clinics now that most of the partner organizations have pulled out.
Community safety
In July, Action Sandy Hill emailed a statement to city officials, community groups and local politicians raising concerns about the effects of safer supply on the city and a lack of transparency over its administration.
“Open drug use doesn’t look like a person sitting down and taking a pill — it looks like a person sitting down and injecting something into their neck,” Barnett told Canadian Affairs in an interview.
“It’s awful for them; it’s awful for us.”
Residents have reported stabbings, shootings, threats, and property damage and defacement near Recovery Care Clinic and Respect Rx Pharmacy. Some residents have witnessed people outside the clinics committing violent assaults using hammers and crowbars.
“We have people who find human excrement in their yards,” she said. “People blow fentanyl smoke in children’s faces.”
Canadian Affairs previously reported on allegations of large-scale drug diversion linked to Respect Rx. In a follow-up investigation, Ottawa mother Masha Krupp said her son, a Recovery Care patient since 2021, remains stuck in a cycle of high-dose opioid prescribing without meaningful access to treatment or recovery options.
Recovery Care CEO Donna Sarrazin did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
When Canadian Affairs spoke to Respect Rx owner Mark Barnes last summer, he said that the pharmacy increased security, installed cameras and worked with police to suspend “problematic” safer supply clients in response to community concerns.
Despite these assurances, Action Sandy Hill says on-the-ground conditions have not improved.
The association’s statement calls on all levels of government to explain what oversight — if any — governs the clinics now that the federal government has stopped funding the program.
“We’re not asking [the safer supply clinics] to enforce [oversight], we’re just asking them to develop something to enforce it,” said Barnett.
“Why don’t you have any oversight mechanisms for this?”
Pulled the plug
The five-year pilot project, known as Safer Supply Ottawa, was funded under Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP).
Health Canada committed $9 million in funding to that project, which also involved several other public health and social service providers.
The program came to its “planned conclusion” in March, says the Safer Supply Ottawa website.
A Health Canada spokesperson told Canadian Affairs that safer supply is now considered “a practice of medicine,” and as such is the responsibility of provincial governments.
“These clinical services are operated by provincially regulated health care providers and the prescription drugs used in these projects are largely funded from provincial drug formularies,” said spokesperson Mark Johnson.
In Ontario, safer supply services may now operate under provincial programs such as the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) and the Ontario Drug Benefit, which covers medications for eligible individuals.
Dr. Suman Koka, one of Ontario’s largest safer supply prescribers, billed OHIP nearly $2.5 million in 2024 for services across his network of addiction clinics — including, but not limited to, safer supply.
The Ontario Ministry of Health was unable to respond to questions about regulation, oversight and funding of safer supply by deadline.
The Safer Supply Ottawa website no longer appears to be active.
Pathways to Recovery, the non-profit that administered the $9-million in federal funding, has not publicly said whether it maintains any financial or governance ties to Recovery Care or Respect Rx. Its website contact form also appears defunct.
Ottawa Public Health, another former member of the pilot project, says it played only a consultative role and does not have oversight of the clinics.
Sandy Hill Community Health Centre told Barnett it is no longer receiving funding for two opioid case managers who supported individuals with “unmet social service, housing and health needs” in the safer supply program.
Barnett says her concerns go beyond oversight — she worries clients receiving safer supply are now getting little else.
“We need recovery space, we need treatment space, we need supportive housing,” she said.
Government response
In February, Action Sandy Hill sent a letter to Health Canada urging it to “investigate and fund new harm reduction models.”
The association is calling for a federal oversight body under the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy — Canada’s guide for addressing substance use related harms and the overdose crisis — that includes direct consultation with affected communities.
At the provincial level, Action Sandy Hill wants the Ontario government to require witnessed consumption at safer supply clinics. With witnessed consumption, a health-care provider is required to watch a patient take their medication on-site to ensure proper use and prevent diversion.
It has also called for disclosure of OHIP billing data for safer supply and expanded treatment access so clients can receive care closer to home.
And at the municipal level, they are advocating for a “Good Neighbour Bylaw” to hold private clinics accountable for their local impacts.
Barnett says Ottawa’s current model has drifted away from Canada’s original four-pillar drug strategy: harm reduction, treatment, enforcement and prevention.
“It’s almost like ideology has taken over,” she said. “There’s this ideology around harm reduction and the most vulnerable and human rights — and yes, all those things are true. But rights and responsibilities go hand in hand.”
She believes the “care” has dropped away from the model, leaving only the business. Without the wraparound services originally envisioned, she says the program is no longer helping those it set out to serve.
“Harm reduction is now for the poor. Treatment is only for the rich.”
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