Bilateral Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario under the Emergency Treatment Fund

January 2019

The opioid crisis is an ongoing public health issue affecting individuals, families and communities across Canada. As part of its efforts to address this crisis, the Government of Canada is working with all provinces and territories to increase access to treatment services for substance use disorders.

Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Christine Elliott, Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Long-term Care, signed a bilateral agreement under the Government of Canada’s Emergency Treatment Fund. The bilateral agreement provides more than $102 million, cost-shared between the government of Canada and Ontario, to enhance or increase access to quality treatment services for substance use disorder.

Under the shared agreement, the Government of Canada is providing $51.1 million and the Province of Ontario is investing $51.2 million. This funding will enhance or help improve access to:

• treatment, counselling, rehabilitation, mental health and social services, and primary care, through integration of harm-reduction programs based on local community needs;
• local treatment and support for opioid use disorder through Rapid Access Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinics and community and residential withdrawal management services; and
• culturally-appropriate care through Indigenous-led mental health and addictions programs and services, and treatment and healing centres.

Emergency Treatment Fund

Announced as part of the Budget 2018 funding to help address the opioid crisis, the Emergency Treatment Fund provides one-time emergency funding of $150 million for provinces and territories to improve access to evidence-based treatment services. This fund is cost-shared with provinces and territories and will bring the total investment in emergency treatment to approximately $300 million once bilateral agreements are signed with all provinces and territories.

The federal government has allocated funding based on the severity of the opioid crisis in the province or territory and the size of the population in the jurisdiction. This ensures that provinces and territories most impacted by the crisis have enough support, and that other jurisdictions are able to prepare for possible future impacts. Federal funding is matched by the province or territory beyond the first $250,000 and the jurisdiction has up to five years to match the initial investment of money from the federal government.

As part of each bilateral agreement, an action plan will be posted on the Canada.ca website. In addition, each province and territory will be asked to report at regular intervals to share the progress made to increase access to innovative and evidence-based treatment in their jurisdiction.

For more information on federal actions on the opioid crisis, please visit Canada.ca/Opioids.