Ontario system ‘not ready’ to introduce involuntary addictions treatment

Ontario’s mental health and addictions minister says the government isn’t in a place to consider involuntary treatment for people in crisis because the current system is already under too much stress.

In a sit-down interview with Focus Ontario, Michael Tibollo laid out how he wants to overhaul Ontario’s mental health and addictions system to ensure everyone can access services near them in less than a week.

“One of the things that we’ve tried to do is build sufficient capacity in withdrawal management,” he said.

“We’re trying to build those locally because those are the most important parts to enter into the system of care.”

His work on the key file comes as Ontario struggles with an increasingly complex addiction crisis.

For the past year, mayors have been demanding the Ford government overhaul its approach to mental health, addictions and its root causes. Encampments have sprung up in major cities and small towns, while health services have struggled to keep up.

Opioid overdose deaths, in particular, have exploded. The number of fatal overdoses in homeless shelters tripled during the pandemic, while an increasing number of overdoses include more than one drug.

Tibollo said the resources the province has been able to open have been extremely well used. The 280 beds Ontario has managed to get online have seen 12,000 visits.

“(That) is telling me that if we build capacity into the system, people are going to come in for the support,” he said.

“The wait times vary depending on where you are in the province, the province is very large and one of the biggest issues that I have is, how do I put each of these programs — these continuums of care — in each community? Because we know evidence supports that the best results, the lowest recidivism rates, will take place when you provide those supports as close as possible to home.”

As Ontario’s addiction crisis intensified last year, a group of mayors asked the Ford government to consider new rules that would allow people to be forced to receive treatment.

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The Big City Mayors Caucus, representing 29 municipalities, wrote to the province asking for an urgent review of mental health laws to work out whether or not to expand involuntary treatment for people addicted to drugs and living on the street.

At the time, neither Minister of Health Sylvia Jones nor Tibollo ruled it out.

On Focus Ontario, Tibollo said the province was “not in a position to want to do anything” around involuntary treatment because the system is already struggling to keep up with demand.

“Until I’ve got a system where I can meet a person within 72 hours, to have that conversation is premature because I can’t give the service to the people that are asking. How can I impose or want to impose treatment? It’s a conversation that has to take place at some point,” he said.

“The system’s not ready for it and we don’t have the legislation that allows it.”

Tibollo said legislation would be required if the province decided to introduce involuntary treatment.

— with files from The Canadian Press

Focus Ontario premiers at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15 on Global TV.

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