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North facing a three-pronged crisis of homelessness, addiction and mental health, municipal groups say

Three Northern Ontario municipal associations back call to action by Northern Policy Institute for more provincial funding to address multi-crisis situation across the North
Sudbury.com Staff
Homeless-(2019)Sized
(File)

Three of Northern Ontario's municipal organizations are speaking out on the need to address the urgent issues of homelessness, opioid addiction and the mental health crisis.

Northern Ontario municipal leaders were taking part in the annual ROMA conference (Rural Ontario Municipal Association), which was held online this week. 

The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA), the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), and the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association (NOSDA) all took part in discussing a research paper by the Northern Policy Institute (NPI), which is an independent think tank based in Thunder Bay, and with offices across Northern Ontario.

The municipal groups presented the paper to several provincial cabinet ministers and other high-level officials about the need to boost provincial funding on several fronts.

The research paper titled “Solving the Homelessness, Mental Health and Addictions Crisis in the North” outlined several recommendations which included the creation of a Northern Ontario service hub under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, that would provide for additional funding.

The paper said that homelessness in the North is at a crisis level, especially in Thunder Bay and territorial Cochrane District. 

"More astonishing is the growing number of people struggling with opioid addiction in Northern Ontario. Extreme spikes in opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits and deaths in most northern Public Health Units shows 2020 to be the most tragic and deadliest year yet of the opioid crisis," said the NPI report. 

NPI also said the growing number of people struggling with homelessness and addiction is a strong indication that there is also a serious mental health crisis among vulnerable populations in the North. The report said Northerners in general have poorer mental health than the rest of the province. 

NPI identified eight distinct strategies for addressing the multi-crisis situation.

  1.  Provide long-term funding for capital repairs on community-housing units;
  2.  Create a ‘Northern Service Hub’ through Ontario's Health Protection and Promotion Act and provide additional funding to these hubs;
  3.  Establish a joint task force to collect data and intelligence on the underlying and systematic retention issues of healthcare professionals in Northern Ontario;
  4. Support new and existing ‘Housing First’ programs;
  5. Support new and existing Indigenous culturally sensitive community-housing facilities;
  6. Establish a ‘Northern Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence’ to address the unique challenges of service and program delivery in Northern Ontario;
  7. Contract a third-party operator for interfacility patient transfers to relieve the workload of paramedics, and;
  8. Establish mandated Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCIT) in municipalities throughout Northern Ontario. 

NPI said the strategies would be "highly effective and economically viable ways" to reduce the number of people struggling with homelessness, addiction, and mental health issues in Northern Ontario.

FONOM president Danny Whalen, a city councilor in Temiskaming Shores, was pleased with the online event. 

“Having the three organizations coming together today with over 20 individuals represented on the call shows just how important this is and the need to address these issues in the North.”