All 33 employees who help operate the safe injection site at The Works will be laid off effective March 31, 2025, according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 79 (CUPE79).
The layoffs include four permanent employees working as community health officers and 29 temporary harm reduction counsellors, CUPE79 said.
During a press conference held at City Hall on Monday morning, CUPE79 president Nas Yadollahi urged the city to immediately rescind the layoffs.
“By eliminating these positions, the city is dismantling a critical piece of its public health strategy to address the opioid crisis,” Yadollahi said.
The Works is a long-standing harm reduction clinic and it became home to the first permanent safe injection site in Toronto in 2017.
In August, it was announced the injection site at The Works was set to close after the province moved to ban all supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres. The Works is currently located at 277 Victoria St., which is in close proximity to the Early Learning Centre in Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Kerr Hall West.
Yadollahi told TorontoToday the union was notified by the city about the impending layoffs two weeks ago, but the workers themselves have not yet received formal layoff notices. When CUPE79 was informed about the layoffs, the city referenced the provincial government’s decision to close supervised consumption sites as the reason for the job cuts.
Instead of laying off these workers, Yadollahi told reporters the city should move them to new positions when the safe injection site closes.
“The city can redeploy workers … without eliminating their positions,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities within public health… and I think these workers have the ability to fill in those gaps.”
As reported by TorontoToday last month, the future of The Works is uncertain because the 277 Victoria St. building it has inhabited for 35 years was sold to TMU. The harm reduction clinic will have to vacate the space by April 2025.
The city appears to be eyeing a new location for The Works right around the corner at 50 Richmond St. E. but city staff told TorontoToday “plans are still under development.”
Even if The Works were to move to 50 Richmond St. E., Toronto Public Health confirmed the safe injection site would not move with it. The Richmond Street location is also within 200 metres of the Early Learning Centre.
During Monday’s press conference, Yadollahi drew attention to the Toronto Board of Health’s 2025 budget proposal, which was amended in order to maintain funding for supervised consumption sites. Initially, the board of health proposed slashing 14 temporary positions across supervised consumption sites due to provincial funding cuts.
City Coun. Gord Perks, who sits on the Toronto Board of Health, was a vocal supporter of maintaining funding for safe injection sites, calling them a “necessary health service” during the board’s meeting on Sept. 6.
In a message to the city, Yadollahi called on elected officials to “show the leadership that Toronto residents expect and deserve.”
“Advocate for harm reduction services. Advocate for the workers who make these services possible. Recognize the service these workers have performed and let them keep their jobs,” she said.
