Northern Health responds to SD60 at last
June meeting scheduled to address concerns: Gilbert hopeful the Board will get answers
After months of no communication from Northern Health regarding the Overdose Prevention Site on 100th Avenue in Fort St. John, the School District 60 Board of Trustees has finally received a response, of sorts.
Trustee Thomas Whitton, initially brought up the issue of the OPS in a Board of Trustees meeting on March 13. When Northern Health signed the lease for the location, most recently used as a warming centre, they didn’t inform any community stakeholders. The Board first heard of it through the media. The location, in closer proximity to an elementary school than several downtown cannabis retailers, concerned parents and trustees alike. The lack of communication from Northern Health to School District 60, was even more concerning.
At that meeting, there was much discussion around the safety of children who use a number of facilities in the area, including the public library, daycares and the elementary school. Parents felt that the demographics of the area were not considered when Northern Health chose the site.
“Did they take into account the fact that there’s two daycares within half a block of the safe injection site? There’s also the Cultural Centre, which a lot of children of varying ages use. It’s not just children that are already in School District 60 – there’s also young children that are going to be there. It seems like an oversight,” said one parent.
Another parent, who has a child at Ecole Central Elementary, shared these concerns and also noted that the cannabis stores “where drugs are dealt” have to be a certain distance away from schools, according to the City’s bylaws.
Under the City’s Bylaw No. 2470, 2019, cannabis retailers are prohibited if the entire parcel is located within “200 metres (in a straight line from closest parcel line to closest parcel line) of a school.”
However, a Ministerial Order handed down by the Provincial Government in 2016, gave regional health authorities the ability to establish an OPS in any place that there is a need. Northern Health determined that there is a need, and the best location is 10607 100 Avenue, in close proximity to Ecole Central Elementary School. Provincial government orders supercede municipal bylaws, which means that Northern Health could establish its OPS where ever it wanted.
Because Northern Health neglected to communicate with stakeholders such as the school district, the Board was faced with questions from parents and the public that they could not answer.
Board Chair, Helen Gilbert, was tasked with writing a letter to Northern Health, following the March 13 board meeting, to express trustees concern with the lack of communication. As she noted in her letter, Throughout the pandemic there was ongoing communication between the school district and public health regarding steps to prevent transmission of COVID in schools.
“The recognition of this shared responsibility is not presently evident to us in the decision to place an overdose prevention site in close proximity to schools and other places that serve the needs of children,” Gilbert said in her letter to Northern Health on May 5. “There has also been no communication regarding the measures that may be planned to address the safety concerns that are being raised with us.”
The questions from the public continued at the April 24 board meeting. Gilbert was in the process of gathering information about similar sites, to better understand the potential impacts and safety issues of an OPS so close to schools.
“We haven’t heard anything from Northern Health to date,” she said in response to the question.
In her letter, Gilbert noted that Northern Health had at last reached out to the School District, and that there is to be a follow up meeting.
“However, this communication is now coming after the fact. The only information that we have had to date has come from the media."
This letter was made public at the May 23 Board of Trustees meeting. Trustees discussed the letter and the ongoing lack of communication from Northern Health, apart from the scheduled meeting.
“Do we expect a letter back, or is the meeting the response?” asked Trustee Nicole Gillis.
“The meeting is the response,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert was optimistic about the upcoming meeting, “where we will hopefully be able to get some answers to the questions posed in this letter.”
She said she will continue her research around the province with other people’s experiences related to safe consumption sites, and will make that information available to the board prior to the June 8 meeting.
“After that meeting, if we have some specific asks about what we want to see in terms of safety plans, communications, things like that, I envision that we will do a follow-up letter to try and solidify any commitments we are able to get in a private meeting.”