Lowertown residents overwhelmed by fentanyl crisis plead for help
CBC
People who live and work near a struggling part of downtown Ottawa say they're running out of options to deal with the fentanyl crisis that has ravaged several blocks of the Lowertown community.
So many drug users sit or lie down on part of the Murray Street sidewalk that community workers have nicknamed the area "the beach."
Louise Beaudoin, the nurse in charge of the supervised injection site located at the Shepherds of Good Hope — one of three nearby shelters — said her employees responded to seven overdoses in a recent eight-hour shift.
Now, she said they're dealing with a surge in violence.
"I've been doing this for 20 years and I've never felt threatened. But for three or four years, we have had security guards 24 hours a day because the level of violence has increased drastically," Beaudoin told Radio-Canada in a French-language interview.
Pastor Gordon Belyea said police sometimes call for help because his church on King Edward Avenue has surveillance cameras outside.
"I saw two people die [of an overdose] on video," he said in French. "In both cases, the guy was alone, people were walking away. All alone, abandoned. That hits."
Dealing with the area's drug and homelessness issues has become part of the daily routine for many.
"They're like zombies," said Paul Viau, a resident who says he's been robbed twice in the last three months.
"My son — he's 10 right now — doesn't like to come out here. He sees it all the time."
At a daycare in Lowertown, an educator combs the yard in search of syringes each morning.
"Every day there is something," Tea Markovic, who takes her child to the daycare, told a reporter in French. "Things we don't want our children to see."
One resident said they've been stuck inside their home after someone passed out in front of their door. Other times they find excrement.
According to police statistics, arrests for drug possession were down 36 per cent last year compared to 2021. Arrests of suspected drug dealers also fell.
The holiday season has arrived in Thunder Bay, and that means reduced hours, or closures, for businesses, city offices, and other amenities.
As Toronto’s food scene continues to grow, some in the industry say the pool of professional chefs hasn’t kept up with demand.
Police have charged a truck driver from the Hamilton area in a hit-and-run crash that killed a tow truck operator who had been stopped while helping a driver on the side of Highway 401 outside Woodstock, Ont.
Power has been restored to most of Haines Junction after a problem earlier on Monday at the local generating station.
A 56-year-old man will return to court on Tuesday for a charge of second-degree murder, laid in a case London police have called an act of femicide.
The chairman of the committee leading Newfoundland and Labrador's independent review of the Churchill Falls memorandum of understanding with Quebec is backing the impartiality of his three-man team.
The province has taken a major step toward restarting its onshore natural gas industry.
Allan Legere, serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Alberta, has been denied a request for full parole.
Winnipeg’s Granite Curling Club has asked a judge to decide whether the City of Winnipeg can ignore a provincial decision about residential housing slated to rise next to the club.
A Saskatoon woman says she watched her neighbour's police standoff play out in real time on social media.
One person is dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, following an incident Friday at a building in Regina.
A wind storm that caused the cancellation of all daytime ferries between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland stranded passengers on both sides of the Salish Sea, adding challenges for travelers in an already hectic holiday travel week.
Maritime Electric has officially filed plans with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission for the rotating power outages it says may be necessary this winter to prevent a provincewide blackout.