'People are becoming desperate': Sault Ste. Marie has Ontario's highest opioid death rate

Sault Ste. Marie has the highest rate of opioid deaths in Ontario so far this year, according to new numbers from the provincial coroner's office.

Opioid deaths from overdoses or poison drugs happen in Sault Ste. Marie at a rate of more than 60 deaths per 100,000 people.

Mayor Matthew Shoemaker isn't happy about it, but also told CBC Radio he's not surprised.

"Since I've been the mayor, it's always been the northern communities in the top five. Sault Ste. Marie's been the top community for opioid hospitalizations and deaths in the last two quarters," said Shoemaker.  

The mayor said he's frustrated with the province and there have been no changes to the services being provided in his community and others in northeastern Ontario, or at least not the types of changes that would help stem the tide on these numbers.

Connie Raynor Elliott is president of Save Our Young Adults (SOYA). The group aims to address the ongoing opioid crisis through education, awareness and support.

"This is the second time, unfortunately, that we're number one. I wasn't surprised because I'm front line. I know about the overdoses in our city," said Raynor Elliott in an interview with CBC Radio.

Asked what she sees on the front line, she replied, "People are becoming desperate as there's very little help for them here.

"We do not have a treatment centre in our city. And where can people safely use? There's no place. They're going into abandoned buildings or into the bush. And that's why our overdoses are increasing, because we can't find them, and by the time we get to them, they're gone."

She wants the province to step up with funding help for the north.

"People are dying. I've been doing this for over 14 years now and we've lost over a thousand people," she said.

Shoemaker is encouraged by the idea of treatment centres called Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs.

We've lost people from one generation to this problem, and now we're on a second generation.- Connie Raynor Elliott 

It's a concept the Ontario Ministry of Health introduced when it announced earlier this year that it was ordering the closure of almost a dozen safe consumption sites and the end of funding for others. 

Provincial officials say these hubs would provide some temporary housing, as well as integrated and wraparound services on site through multiple community agencies 

The mayor wants one in his city and is urging citizens to call for one.

"We're so desperate here in the north to get the services needed to bring those numbers down that one of the things we're trying is to get community members directly involved in advocating with the provincial government," Shoemaker said.

"They can do it by using the form letter that I've got on my website or they can write their own first-hand accounts of lived experience with homelessness and addictions management. We need to tell the province that Sault Ste. Marie is at a crisis point."

Raynor Elliott said nothing is being done, and until it is, she feels the tragic cycle will continue.

"We've lost people from one generation to this problem and now we're on a second generation. Soon there'll be a third generation of people dying, and it's heartbreaking."