Harm Reduction Services Public Consultation Survey Deadline Extended

The city's Board of Health has extended the deadline for the Ottawa Public Health's Harm Reduction consultation survey until Monday, August 8. It's your chance to have a say on the issue of supervised injection sites. Here's the PSA from OPH, along with a link to the survey:

Earlier this month, Ottawa Public Health (OPH) released a public consultation survey on enhancing harm reduction services in Ottawa. This survey gives residents, community partners and businesses an opportunity to share with OPH their thoughts on enhancing harm reduction services in Ottawa.

The volume of survey responses received to date through this anonymous, confidential and voluntary public survey has been encouraging and OPH looks forward to analyzing the feedback received from residents of Ottawa. This valuable information will be used when making decisions about expanding harm reduction services, and will be made public in a summary report that will be posted on the OPH website.

The survey will close on Monday evening, August 8 at midnight.

This is a community-wide conversation and OPH wants the community’s voice to be heard to ensure the public health needs of our community continue to be met and improved. You can complete the survey at HaveYourSayOttawa.ca, or connect with OPH on Twitter and Facebook.

This consultation was one of the recommendations in the report titled Enhancing Harm Reduction Services – Data, Guiding Principle and Next Steps and the accompanying technical report, which was presented to and passed with no amendments by the Ottawa Board of Health on June 20. The report summarizes drug use in Ottawa as well as treatment and harm reduction services currently available. The report includes a guiding principle stating Ottawa Board of Health’s support for and encouragement of the Ottawa community to enhance harm reduction services, including supervised injection services. The report also outlined a consultation plan to engage the public on expanding harm reduction services in Ottawa.