Community outreach over Cambridge consumption and treatment sites start this month

People in Cambridge will be able to take part in public consultations over potential sites for a consumption and treatment services sites.

Councillors agreed to look at two potential sites during a meeting late last month:15 Easton Street and 8 Oxford Street.

City council voted in favour of moving forward with a community consultation framework on Tuesday night.

The city says there will be various ways for people to offer their opinions on the sites, including through the Engage Cambridge website, an online survey, "kitchen table feedback forms" and in phone calls and virtual meetings. That work is set to begin later this month and will continue into July.

Staff are expected to provide a report on the public consultations with city council in the fall.

"Council will receive a summary report with community feedback and the pros and cons identified for the potential sites. With this information, council can determine if either of the sites would be a suitable location, or if both should be removed from consideration," the city said in a release.

Much-debated issue

Residents and city officials havedebated having a consumption and treatment site since 2017.

In April 2018, city council passed a bylaw that banned the sites in the downtown cores. In June of that year, regional council approved four site locations, including two in Kitchener and two in Cambridge. The two sites in Cambridge,150 Main St. and 149 Ainslie St. N., are not currently under consideration by the city.

In September 2018, during the municipal election, none of the five people who ran to bemayor supported putting a supervised consumption site in the Galt core.

The region's only consumption and treatment site opened in Kitchener in Oct. 2019.