By Juanita Lawson
Like many other communities, Thunder Bay has been hard hit by the drug poisoning crisis. For years, systematically marginalized and isolated people in our community have borne the heaviest costs. Yet one vital service—the city’s safe consumption site, Path 525—has been a beacon of hope, providing judgment-free, lifesaving care. Now, as it faces closure in 2025, both lives and the stability of our health system are at risk.
The drug poisoning crisis and the related emergencies and acute care needs mean added challenges, stress, and workload for health care, social services, and other public workers. Lack of access to vital services adds to the high levels of isolation, desperation, and increasing frustration people have. It’s understandable. But right now, like a few other communities in the province, Thunder Bay has a place where people can go to get connected to services without judgment or fear.
Path 525 provides Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) at NorWest Community Health Centres, where health professionals practice a full continuum of addictions medicine—including treatment and harm reduction interventions—to help keep people alive and give them options to stabilize and then improve their health. Our staff provide care that is rooted in the evidence of what works to help people while they’re still using drugs, while at the same time guiding them to other pathways.
Since 2021, Path 525 has seen more than 30,000 visits, with 450 overdoses reversed. Path 525 has not only saved lives but also eased the burden on local emergency services. Each overdose averted is one less ambulance call, one less ER visit, and one more opportunity for someone to seek further care on their terms. But the program isn’t just about a set of services, treatment options or addictions statistics. It’s a place where people get their lives and dignity back.
Path 525 is slated to close in March 2025 due to provincial policy shifts that prioritize abstinence-based treatment models over harm reduction services. This decision could have devastating consequences for those who rely on the broad spectrum of care Path 525 provides.
What’s at risk now with Path 525 slated to close? What’s at risk are the trusted pathways that NorWest CHC have built to save lives, provide treatment options to address addiction and trauma, and help people move on to live healthier lives. What’s at risk is the capacity of our Emergency Medical Services and acute care to serve our community, as they will have to pivot to respond to increased drug poisonings. And what’s at risk is the very stability of Thunder Bay’s already precarious health system.
Let’s hope, fellow Thunder Bay citizens, but hope alone isn’t enough. We must act to ensure individuals who use Path 525—and by extension, our community—receive the care and services they deserve, and ensure that no one is left without lifesaving care when they need it most. Lives around us depend on it.
