To help support the response to the overdose crisis and address harms related to substance use and the toxic illegal drug supply, the Government of Canada has announced nearly $40 million in funding for 73 innovative community-led projects across Canada.

July 2022

To help support the response to the overdose crisis and address harms related to substance use and the toxic illegal drug supply, the Government of Canada has announced nearly $40 million in funding for 73 innovative community-led projects across Canada.

With this funding, these projects will help improve health outcomes for people who are at risk of experiencing substance-related harms and overdose by scaling up prevention, harm reduction and treatment efforts across the country.

Funding is provided through the Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP), which supports evidence-informed and innovative initiatives across a range of interventions-health promotion, prevention, harm reduction and treatment-involving a broad range of legal and illegal substances.

Alberta (total of $5,323,303)

Capacity Building for AAWEAR's Peer Outreach Harm Reduction Teams
Alberta Addicts who Educate and Advocate Responsibly - Calgary, AB

$378,444 in addition to the $300,000 already received from SUAP, to build capacity of the peer outreach staff through ongoing enhanced education and training. The additional funding expands the reach from suburban areas of Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge into more rural communities and will develop new tools to expand virtual capacity. The funding will allow the organization to hire an engagement coordinator who will expand support to include workers in trades.

CUPS' Peer-Driven Enhanced OAT Program
CUPS Calgary Society - Calgary, AB

$1,141,921 over 18 months to expand CUPS' existing Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) program based in Calgary with a new, lower barrier mobile service that can provide OAT services and access to peer recovery coaches. The target population is individuals 18 and up experiencing economic insecurity, especially those experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. The project aims to connect with the hard-to-reach opioid users, who tend to face barriers to recovery.

Boyle Street Non-Residential Managed Alcohol Program
Boyle Street Services Society - Edmonton, AB

$261,802 in addition to the $592,899 already received from SUAP, to deliver a non-residential managed alcohol program (MAP) for people who consume illicit alcohol such as rubbing alcohol and non-beverage alcohol (NBA) use, in inner city Edmonton. MAP is a treatment option for people living with severe alcohol use disorder, which can help stabilize and prevent health and social harms by providing controlled amounts of alcohol at specific times to help manage alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The program has three streams: peer meetings/mentorship, a brew-co-op, and an alcohol exchange program for beverage-quality alcohol. The additional funding will be used to expand reach and double the number of participants, to include cultural and therapeutic supports and to add distilled vodka and whiskey to the program.

Journeys - Addiction Supports for Women
McMan Youth, Family and Community Services Association - Calgary, AB

$186,484 in addition to the $713,530 already received from SUAP, to provide support to women whose use substances and are on the wait list for long-term residential addictions treatment at the Aventa Center of Excellence for Women with Addiction, a residential treatment center in Calgary. The program focusses on recovery and sobriety related to the use of alcohol, but participants receiving support for other substance use as well. The additional funding will expand the target participant demographic to include women aged 16-24.

Chemsex Education Project
SafeLink Alberta Society - Calgary, AB

$108,159 over 18 months to advance policies and practices to help service providers, including health, social, and harm reduction professionals work together effectively in order to provide tools to reduce harms related to substance use and mental health within the gay/bisexual/men community. The service providers will receive a training curriculum and will provide pre and post feedback regarding its content and delivery.

Acahkawsis (star child) program
Fort McMurray 468 First Nation - Fort McMurray, AB

$599,338 over 18 months to develop an Indigenous-led in-community treatment program based on traditional values that will allow individuals to recover on their traditional lands and within their communities, which are the Fort McMurray 468 First Nation, and the local Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Hoping to develop a model that could be used across Canada, the program will leverage intensive case management to provide wraparound support and facilitate multi-level interventions through therapy sessions and teaching by local Elders.

The Blood Tribe Harm Reduction Project
Kainai Food Bank Society - Standoff, AB

$935,117 over 18 months to train local people with lived experience to become peer support workers provide trauma-informed care support rooted in the Blackfoot culture. Programming will be evidence-based and patient-centered with an emphasis on harm reduction, peer and Elder support, and connection to community resources.

On the Land Wellness Camps
Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council - Atikameg, AB

$148,809 over 18 months to support wellness and culture learning land camps for the member nations of the Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council in Northern Alberta to address trauma and grief that contribute to substance use. The target population will be individuals and families at risk of substance-related overdoses, experiencing domestic violence, and facing poverty or housing insecurity.

NAM Therapeutic Communities for Healthy Families
Northeast Addiction and Mental Health Centre for Holistic Recovery - Calgary, AB

$583,201 over 17 months to provide integrated health, housing, and supportive services to Calgary's vulnerable South Asian families, including recovery coaching for people who use drugs. Families supported by this project include immigrants, those who have a background of multi-generational poverty, or who experience homelessness or housing insecurity while experiencing substance use and/or co-occurring disorders.

Bearspaw First Nation Substance and Addiction Response and Care
Stoney Trail Wellness Center Eden Valley - Eden Valley 216, AB

$980,028 over 18 months to support a mobile crisis response team trained to attend to emergencies in Bearspaw First Nation on the Eden Valley reserve. The team will conduct non-crisis interventions, respond to overdoses, and teach harm-reduction techniques. The project will also provide aftercare to those who have experienced the trauma of an overdose and to the crisis response team.

British Columbia (total of $6,849,526)

Peers First
Burnaby Family Life Institute - Burnaby, BC

$115,739 over 18 months to recruit and give peers the necessary tools to improve their communications skills and ensure harm reduction. This will help address the stigma experienced by people with lived or living experience of substance use. The program will also provide support to peers in community outreach activities targeted at vulnerable community members. Individuals receiving support may also be experiencing multiple challenges including racial discrimination, economic hardship, homelessness and/or housing insecurities, a lack of belonging, mental illness, and pain.

Trauma and Resiliency Informed Practice (TRIP)
Fraser Health - Surrey, BC

$123,583 over 18 months to formalize and scale-up their Trauma and Resiliency Informed Practice and stigma reduction training for health providers in British Columbia and communities across Canada. The project will expand and standardize the Trauma and Resiliency Informed Practice (TRIP) program, developed by Fraser Health Authority in partnership with the Mental Health Commission of Canada, to reduce stigma and improve care by teaching health and social workers about self-compassion and trauma-informed practice. A TRIP train-the-trainer methodology and resource guide, an implementation guide, and an assessment tool will be developed and piloted across Canada and with an Indigenous partner organization.

The Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Network - Building system capacity to better address the needs of British Columbians with complex MHSU issues or concurrent disorders
Provincial Health Services Authority - Vancouver, BC

$1,417,746 over 18 months to expand and evaluate the new virtual British Columbia Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use (MHSU) Network and support key network activities to build the MHSU workforce capacity to address the needs of people in BC with both mental health and substance use disorders. A series of Network Dialogue and Action meetings will identify and prioritize unmet health needs of the target population. The focus will be on system change at the provincial level to remove existing barriers to coordinated, consistent MHSU services.

PACK - Parents Advocating Collectively for Kin
BC Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors - New Westminster, BC

$271,689 over 18 months to support a peer-led project, using an existing toolkit to train peer support workers in British Columbia, building their capacity to serve mothers with lived and/or living experience of substance use who are at risk of having their child taken from their care. Certified peer workers will form a network to support and advocate for mothers to remain the primary care providers for their children. Primarily, participants will include Indigenous mothers and mothers who experience violence and stigma.

Sea to Sky Mindful Harm Reduction
Sea to Sky Community Services Society - Squamish, BC

$706,746 over 18 months to improve support for youth struggling with their mental health and substance use in the Squamish region. This initiative aims to reach them at early onset and working to prevent emerging issues like anxiety, depression, substance use and addiction. This program will focus on streamlining care and establishing single-point access to various wraparound services, prioritizing relationship-based approaches, and committing to empowering youth to seek care and make decisions for themselves. A key deliverable for this program will be to develop and implement a substance use and addictions reduction strategy that ensures a prevention, health promotion and early intervention approach embedded in all their youth programming.

Safer Nanaimo Initiative
AVI Health and Community Services Society - Victoria, BC

$1,242,904 over 18 months to develop a flexible, community-based safer supply model in an underserved regional area of British Columbia that has a high rate of drug poisoning deaths. The goal is to improve the lives of people who use drugs by providing pharmaceutical alternatives to the toxic drug supply and by developing a sustainable collaborative care network, which will bring together health care providers including physicians and nurses, harm reduction services, people with lived/living experience of substance use, pharmacies, Indigenous communities and other allied health care workers. The collaborative network will develop practices and protocols that maximize existing resources to overcome the barriers that rural/regional communities face in delivering safer supply programs.

Digital health innovation adaptation for prevention of overdose deaths in supportive housing
PHS Community Services Society - Vancouver, BC

$1,119,012 over 15 months to utilize the Lifeguard app to monitor the status of people who use illegal drugs living in PHS supportive housing in Vancouver, home to a wide demographic of marginalized groups, including Indigenous peoples and 2SLGBTQIA+. These groups include some of the most vulnerable people using opiate and polydrug and regularly using substances alone.

Surrey Second Responder Program
City of Surrey - Surrey, BC

$594,346 over 17 months to continue to support individuals experiencing an overdose at their residence. A team including a firefighter, a counselor from the health authority, and a peer with lived experience will visit the individual at home to provide them with resources regarding harm reduction, treatment and recovery programs, and offer referrals and linkages to care.

Evaluating Prescribed Safer Supply among Formerly Incarcerated Persons during an Overdose Public Health Emergency
The University of British Columbia - Vancouver, BC

$595,328 over 18 months to evaluate the impact of prescribed safer supply on people recently released from incarceration -a population that faces a disproportionate burden of overdose risk and mortality as well as significant barriers to care. Working through the Unlocking the Gates release support program, the project will evaluate the experiences of people recently released from incarceration in seeking prescribed safer supply; and determine the impact of obtaining prescribed safer supply on community integration, risk of overdose, health and wellbeing post-release.

Knknxtəwix̌ "We walk hand in hand" Indigenous Harm Reduction and Structural Stigma Dialogue with the Healthcare Sector
City of Kelowna - Kelowna, BC

$662,433 over 18 months to equip Indigenous people with lived or living experience (PWLLE) of substance use and peer navigators with the skills to provide culturally appropriate harm reduction services. PWLLE of substance use and healthcare professionals will engage in dialogue to produce innovative and pragmatic solutions for addressing systemic stigma and racism within the healthcare system.

Manitoba (total of $2,509,356)

Harm-reduction, OPportunities & Empowerment (HOPE)
Wings of Power Inc. – Pine Falls, MB

$137,537 over 18 months to provide outreach services in the Eastman Region of Manitoba by connecting individuals at risk of experiencing substance-related harms with early prevention, addictions management, and mental health services. The program will deliver mobile outreach to northern and isolated communities, provide education on harm reduction practices as well as give out take-home naloxone and drug testing kits. The project will also offer peer support groups, and refer individuals to social and support services.

Manitoba Mobile Addiction Team to Increase Community Capacity and Access (MMATICCA)
Four Arrows Regional Health Authority - Winnipeg, MB

$1,117,078 over 18 months to pilot enhanced mobile community treatment services in rural and remote Indigenous communities near Winnipeg, building local capacity to work with people who use substances. The project will expand on the opioid agonist therapy program (OAT) launched in Red Sucker Lake during the COVID-19 pandemic. Created to give people better access to care outside of community, expanding the program will give residents living in the Island Lake Communities of Red Sucker Lake, St. Theresa Point, Garden Hill and Wasagamac additional resources and better access to harm reduction services.

Healing and Harm Reduction Substance Abuse Program
John Howard Society of Manitoba - Winnipeg, MB

$26,680 in addition to the $443,739 already received from SUAP, to create a culturally sensitive program for men from First Nations communities who use drugs and who have been in contact with the law, in the Winnipeg area. Additional funding will provide six new group sessions about opioid use.

An Integrated Trauma Informed Approach to Methamphetamine withdrawal treatment and support
Klinic - Winnipeg, MB

$198,178 in addition to the $370,034 already received from SUAP, to add post-treatment recovery services to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, funded-non-residential, mobile withdrawal management services, which are offered by Klinic. The additional funding will be used to hire Indigenous cultural support workers to bridge access to Elders and Indigenous-specific services.

#SmokeDontPoke: A Meth pipe pilot project by people who use drugs in Pinefalls and Selkirk
Manitoba Harm reduction Network - Pinefalls and Selkirk, MB

$115,996 in addition to the $75,000 already receive from SUAP to improve access to harm reduction for people who use meth by offering pipes and information and working to reduce stigma. Additional funding will be used to support 10 satellite sites in Manitoba to provide increased access to safer drug use supplies to over 330 people in seven rural communities and one Norther community.

The Sexuality Education Resource Centre (SERC) Brandon Peer Leadership Outreach Project
Sexuality Education Resource Centre Manitoba Inc. - Brandon, MB

$204,880 over 18 months to conduct outreach skills training and organize kitchen table talks, which involve informal peer discussions and the distribution of peer-informed kits containing harm reduction and safer sex supplies, resources, and season-specific essential needs (e.g., food, hygiene products, and Personal Protective Equipment). The project will support people who use drugs experiencing homelessness, Indigenous people, youth, and recently incarcerated individuals.

OASIS - Outreach And Supportive Interventions for Substance use
St. Boniface Street Links - Winnipeg, MB

$323,670 over 18 months to provide wraparound supports and individualized care planning to individuals who are at a heightened risk of substance-related overdoses and who face multiple barriers to accessing care in the Winnipeg area. Participants will include people with underlying or co-occurring mental health disorders such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post traumatic stress disorder, and personality disorders.

Mobile Outreach Prevention Site (MOPS)
Sunshine House Incorporated - Winnipeg, MB

$385,337 over 18 months to operate a recreation motor vehicle to deliver peer-led outreach services five to six nights a week to people who use drugs in Winnipeg's Central, West End, North End, and Point Douglas communities. Services will include administering Naloxone in the event of an overdose; referrals to emergency and other health and social services and supports; demonstrating how to administer fentanyl tests; and, providing real-time 'on-the-ground' toxic drug supply information gathered from community members.

New Brunswick (total of $663,687)

Addressing Health Equity in Vulnerable Populations through Flexible Primary Health Care, Outreach, and Peer Support
Salvus Clinic Inc. - Moncton, NB

$663,687 over 18 months to address negative social impacts experienced by vulnerable populations facing substance use disorder and/or concurrent disorders due to unmet community service needs. Peer support specialists and health care professionals will deliver prevention, addiction, and mental health treatment and support; primary health care; and outreach using trauma-informed principles and a harm reduction approach.

Newfoundland and Labrador (total of $695,037)

Safer Works Access Program (SWAP) Clarenville / Bonavista
Aids Committee of Newfoundland & Labrador (ACNL) - Saint John's, NFLD

$176,055 over 18 months to provide a mobile outreach service to increase access to harm reduction-based services and wraparound care supports in the rural areas of Clarenville and Bonavista. Services will include providing opioid response training and distributing safe injection and inhalation supplies, naloxone, fentanyl test strips, condoms, and resources on Sexually Transmitted Blood Borne Infections and harm reduction strategies.

Enhancing Peer Support Model for Continuum of Care for Addictions Management
Bell Island Sobriety, Housing and Employment Inc. - Bell Island, NL

$518,982 over 18 months to develop a peer support program in the community of Bell Island using a continuum of care approach beginning with harm reduction and incorporating a supportive treatment program and opportunities in the community allowing individuals to gain skills for employment and sober living. The target population will be individuals and family members of individuals who use alcohol, opioids, and other drugs.

Nova Scotia (total of $1,161,225)

Mobile Supportive Spaces
The Ally Centre of Cape Breton - Sydney, NS

$257,466 over 18 months to support a mobile harm reduction van that will operate in five Cape Breton communities to deliver harm reduction resources, safe consumption supplies, and naloxone training, as well as provide access to a public health nurse and housing support worker.

Undoing the Harm (of criminalization and stigmatization within the illicit substance using community of Cape Breton Regional Municipality)
Cape Breton Association of People Empowering Drug Users (CAPED) - Point Edward, NS

$492,229 over 18 months to develop the CAPED network by engaging with people with lived and living experience (PWLLE) of substance use in Sydney, and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Community partners will be offered capacity building training to reduce stigma. Twenty PWLLE of substance use will participate in an 'Undoing the Harm: Self Exploration Program' and 12-module 'Safe Assistance Training' program to acquire the skills needed for employment in the substance use sector as peer support workers. A full-time peer support worker will be hired to provide advice, resources, referrals, and advocate for individuals as they re-enter the community from the healthcare or justice system, and other institutional settings.

Community outreach: Expanding Mainline's reach and Client base through Targeted: Urban and Rural Outreach
Mi'kmaw Native Friendship (Mainline Distribution & Disposal) - Halifax, NS

$207,502 over 15 months to scale up harm reduction outreach efforts and supports extended to people who use substances in areas of Nova Scotia served by Mainline, a health promotion organization dedicated to supporting people who use substances through harm reduction programs. Funding will support a new community outreach service to fill identified gaps and connect with new individuals and organizations.

Supporting Harm Reduction through Peer Support (SHARPS)
Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society - Halifax, NS

$204,028 over 18 months to provide education and training for community-based peer navigators from the Halifax Substance User Network so they may have access to give individuals at a heightened risk for accidental drug poisoning referrals to health and social services, treatment, and follow-up care.

Ontario (total of $20,523,425)

Wellness Initiative for consumption treatment services workers
Breakaway Community Services - Toronto, ON

$90,542 in addition to the $376,612 already received from SUAP, to build and sustain the capacity of overdose response workers in nine consumption and treatment services sites in Toronto. This initiative will develop and deliver group & individual support services, workshops, and trainings for overdose response workers. This funding will also be used to decrease and prevent burnout of staff by supporting worker wellness through the hiring of relief staff to ensure workers are able to take time to use these services.

Expanding Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) Services to include injectable Opioid Agonist Therapy (iOAT) for Safer Supply at The Works
City of Toronto (Toronto Public Health (The Works)) - Toronto, ON

$768,665 in addition to the $2,305,835 already received from SUAP, to embed a low-barrier community based iOAT pilot into an existing Opioid antagonist treatment clinic in downtown Toronto. This funding will add four months of the iOAT program, to extend hours and increase the number of participants served from 34 to 45.

Emergency Room Support Services and Ongoing Harm Reduction Support to Overdose Survivors and Those At Risk Through a Peer Support Program
Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough - Peterborough, ON

$269,320 in addition to the $1,243,103 already received from SUAP, to treat people who use multiple substances and to provide intervention for people who have overdosed in the emergency room setting with support to an immediate link to a network of aftercare services. This initiative will develop certified peer support training for emergency room workers, a peer support drop-in service for aftercare; and develop a series of workshops for people who have been discharged from mental health crisis units. The additional funding is being utilised to add three peer helpers for people who belong to Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+ and housing insecurity communities.

C.O.A.C.H. (Community Outreach Action Collaborative Hamilton)
Grenfell Ministries - Hamilton, ON

$650,000 in addition to the $813,960 already received from SUAP, to provide immediate assessment, case management outreach and support services to people who use drugs that are being discharged from court or detention centres.

Building Resilience through Harm Reduction (BRHR)
Heritage Skills Development Centre - Scarborough, ON

$276,471 in addition to the $314,996 already received from SUAP, to respond to the overdose crisis and to substance harms issues in the Scarborough East community through a peer-driven harm reduction program that provides services to vulnerable populations. The additional funding will be used for the addition of workshops, counselling and navigation services for people who use drugs (and their families), as they contemplate rehab, relapse prevention, addiction, and mental health supports.

It Takes A Village: Safer Opioid Supply Through Community
K-W Working Centre for the Unemployed (The Working Centre) - Kitchener, ON

$1,240,816 in addition to the $2,324,516 already received from SUAP, to expand a safer supply project by embedding it within six housing, shelter, and congregate settings. This will admit an additional 100 people, as well as extend wraparound care.

Youth Engagement Strategy (YES) Action Initiative
Community Justice Initiatives (Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council) - Waterloo, ON

$378,764 over 18 months to create a Youth Reference Group as part of the Waterloo Region Youth Engagement Strategy (WRYES), engaging youth at the margins and at the risk of crime and victimization, many of whom are from Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities. As the strategy is developed, the Youth Reference Group will identify challenges across communities, develop recommendations, and guide the implementation of proposed measures concerning drug prevention and substance use, across multiple sectors.

E-wiijkiwe'endijig Naadmaadwaad (Friends Helping Each Other)
M'Chigeeng First Nation - M'Chigeeng, ON

$697,405 in addition to the $801,751 already received from SUAP, to train local persons with lived and living experience of substance use as peer support advocates. Training will include a mix of indigenous and western concepts including trauma-informed care practices, motivational interviewing, the stages of change model, harm reduction practices, and evidence-based peer support practices. This additional funding will be used to hire a cultural advisor and four full time peer support advocates.

Embedding Safer Supply Prescribing in Primary Care Team in a Small Urban Community: Exploring Enablers and Barriers
Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic - Peterborough, ON

$799,671 in addition to the $207,167 already received from SUAP to further support a pilot model led by nurse practitioners. This pilot explores enablers and barriers to building capacity within primary care teams for the prescription of safer supply to people with opioid use living in smaller urban or rural settings. This additional funding will help fast track the project and will increase the number of participants from 10 to 50 individuals.

Naloxone Training and Distribution in Shelters for People Experiencing Homelessness under Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)'s Reaching Home Strategy
Priory of Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (The) (St. John Ambulance) - Ottawa, ON

$1,924,500 in addition to the $1,973,440 already received from SUAP, to leverage the network of the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) funded organizations serving people who are experiencing homelessness, to deliver naloxone training and kits across Canada. The additional funding will be used to extend this program for an additional year which will increase the amount of training and number of naloxone kits distributed.

Opioid Overdose Response and Reducing Stigma and Discrimination through Education
Priory of Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (The) (St. John Ambulance) - Ottawa, ON

$2,718,750 in addition to the $7,490,388 already received from SUAP, to reduce stigma and discrimination through training based on the BC/Yukon Council's Opioid Overdose Response and Opioid Awareness program. The additional finding will allow the program to extend its reach to hard-to-reach communities by creating a Partner Program where organizations can use the curriculum, as well as distribute Naloxone kits to their own underserved communities, including Indigenous and racialized populations.

Opioid Crisis Support - Community of Practice
The Priory of Canada of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (The) (St. John Ambulance) - Ottawa, ON

$726,299 over 18 months to support a national Opioid Crisis Support Community of Practice connecting service delivery workers, organizations, agencies, and people with lived and living experiences to enable them to share and discuss ideas, challenges, and knowledge of current trends and practices in a safe space. The Community of Practice will also provide program activities to engage those who use substances, along with people and family who care for and support them.

Wellington County Community Health Van
Sanguen Health Centre - Waterloo, ON

$435,948 in addition to the $548,464 already received from SUAP, to operate a mobile community health van in Wellington County that provides curb-side access to health and social services to people who have been marginalized due to drug use, mental health, poverty and/or HIV or Hep C. The additional funding will increase the van service delivery, partnerships, and availability of basic supplies.

Opioid Overdose Peer Prevention and Response
Somerset West Community Centre - Ottawa, ON

$750,000 in addition to the $1,320,132 already received from SUAP, to train harm reduction peer workers who will provide outreach to populations disproportionately impacted by the overdose crisis not currently reached by existing programs or services, this includes young and middle-aged men working in trades, people experiencing chronic pain, Indigenous Peoples and Communities, Racialized peoples and communities, 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples and communities, overdose response workers (including peers and PWLLE, safer supply prescribers), People who are street-involved or experiencing housing insecurity, People who have been in contact with the justice system and youth. This program will also build capacity to provide safer practices to people who use substances alone and/or in unsafe conditions. The additional funding will be used to increase the number of staff who deliver these services to Indigenous people who use drugs, and to partner with Indigenous organizations.

Stabilization Program for Women: Getting Ready for Addictions Treatment
The Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa - Ottawa, ON

$731,246 over 18 months to support the Safe Bridge Initiative to address a gap in suitable supports for women involved in the criminal justice system with addictions. This initiative will support them in adhering to their discharge conditions; continuing and/or enrolling in opioid agonist treatment in a supportive environment; and preparing for clinical addictions treatment. The project will involve designing, developing, piloting, and evaluating two intensive day stabilization programs -one from an Indigenous cultural perspective and one from a mainstream/non-Indigenous perspective.

Brantford Downtown Outreach Team
St. Leonard's Community Services Inc. - Branford, ON

$224,284 in addition to the $790,995 already received from SUAP, to provide mobile, on-the-spot peer support, harm reduction supply, primary care services, and counselling for people struggling with substance use and mental health issues. The additional funding will add a peer support worker for increased access to services.

The Doorway
Street Health Community Nursing Foundation - Toronto, ON

$67,292 in addition to the $526,430 already received from SUAP, to help people with lived and living experience of substance use acquire knowledge and skills in the harm reduction sector and be employed in Toronto, ON. The additional funding will be used to develop resources and training to work with Indigenous people, people that are transgender or people experiencing homelessness, as well as hire an educational consultant to train people in the organisation working on this project.

Weed Out the Risk - A National Youth Public Education Program
Operation Springboard - Toronto, ON

$500,000 in addition to the $3,004,135 already received from SUAP, to provide information on the health and road safety risks of driving while under the influence of cannabis. Delivered in conjunction with Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). This additional funding will expand the reach to 50,000 - 60,000 additional high school students across Canada, with a particular emphasis on the Territories.

Developing a National Standard for Workplace Impairment
Canadian Standards Association - Toronto, ON

$193,802 in addition to the $435,067 already received from SUAP, to develop an evidence-informed national standard on workplace impairment to assist Canadian employers in addressing the use of legal and illegal substances in the workplace. Additional funding will be used to develop a suite of quickly implementable and scalable resources to support the recently completed national standard, including e-learning materials. In particular, these supports would target small businesses, which highlighted a need for additional supports to implement the standard.

Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention ACB Harm Reduction Support Team
Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention of Metropolitan Toronto - Toronto, ON

$275,585 over 18 months to support outreach for the African, Caribbean, and Black populations in the north end of Toronto, to distribute safer smoking and safer injection supplies; naloxone and hygiene kits; and, safe disposal containers. Other services will include referrals to supports; one-on-one support on how to use safer equipment/supplies; and, service provider training sessions on topic such as overdose prevention, harm reduction for parents and caregivers, anti-racism and anti-oppressions, substance use 101, harm reduction and housing, racial injustice, and the latest on actions to address drug use. This project will also deliver workshops and information sessions to African, Caribbean and Black people using their services on harm reduction and substance use.

Youth for Change (YFC)
Midaynta Community Services - North York, Ontario

$392,229 over 18 months to help increase the participation of Black youth and community members in promoting conversations about substance use and mental health issues existing with the North West Toronto Region. The goal of YFC is to reduce barriers faced by Black youth and families to addiction services and increase availability of culturally appropriate services. This will be done through an evidence-based workshop series on substance use and addiction, local exhibitions highlighting youth in the community, a peer-led safe therapeutic environment for youth to share concerns, culturally appropriate holistic/wrap around services and social media highlighting youth voices.

Use of Opioids for the Management of Chronic Non Cancer Pain: Update of the 2017 Canadian Guideline
McMaster University - Hamilton, ON

$545,977 over 18 months to update the 2017 Canadian guideline on the use of opioids for non-cancer pain incorporating new evidence and adopting new knowledge synthesis methods, as well as incorporating information from stakeholder feedback. The updated guideline will provide essential guidance to people living with chronic pain, and the physicians, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists involved in their care.

Support and Safer Supply (SASS)
The AIDS Network (TAN) - Hamilton, ON

$875,882 over 18 months to provide people who use drugs in Hamilton, Ontario with a pharmaceutical-grade medication as an alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply, and wraparound supports such as employment opportunities and access to harm reduction programming. The project will also create a trained peer support team to work with people who use drugs to achieve wellness and stability.

Reducing Apprentice Drug Use in the Skilled Trades: Best Practices for Safe Canadian Workplaces
Canadian Apprenticeship Forum - Ottawa, ON

$574,616 over 18 months to implement an opioid harm reduction strategy for apprentices working in construction trades in Canada, co-developed with the Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs (CAPUD), the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, and Canada's Building Trade Unions. The strategy will be informed by a national survey, interviews with apprentices, and a literature review followed by outreach with apprentices and industry representatives.

Reducing Risk of Overdose Through a Peer Led Outreach Program Focused on Individuals Who Have Been Criminalized
Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough - Peterborough, ON

$276,440 over 14 months to build on the organization's existing court programs through the Criminal Court in Peterborough, Ontario, by providing a peer led outreach program for people who use drugs and who are involved with the criminal courts system. The goal of the program is to reduce the risk of opioid overdose and prevent accidental poisonings among criminalized individuals in Peterborough, Ontario.

PARN Harm Reduction Peer Project
Peterborough AIDS Resource Network (PARN) - Peterborough, ON

$392,976 over 16 months to provide the Peterborough AIDS Resource Network (PARN) with an opportunity to formally mobilize existing peers into supported service delivery positions, in Peterborough, ON. The impact of the mobilization of harm reduction peer workers into service delivery will be exponential, as each harm reduction peer will have the opportunity to provide support, resources, and education to hundreds of unique harm reduction service users.

Canadian Best Practices for the Development of Effective Clinical Decision Support Systems for the Management of Chronic Pain
Centre for Effective Practice -Toronto, ON

$469,157 over 12 months to develop or adapt a tool for the management of chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) that can be integrated into providers' electronic medical records. The tool will help primary care providers deliver timely, high-quality chronic pain care; improve responsible opioid prescribing; mitigate issues of limited specialist access; relieve pressure on the healthcare system; and contribute to sustained improvements in patient outcomes. The Centre for Effective Practice will also establish a set of national best practices for the development of effective solutions for CNCP through consultations with stakeholders and people with lived experience.

DoseCheck: Final validation and field pilot testing of a consumer-priced, networked, and analytically sophisticated drug checking technology
Unity Health Toronto (Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation) -Toronto, ON

$438,038 over 15 months to finalize and pilot-test an emerging drug checking technology device called DoseCheck, with the goal of expanding access to overdose prevention technology in underserved settings and among structurally vulnerable populations. The data from the device sent to a free smartphone app, will be accessible to the person using it, amplifying the impact of drug checking across entire communities at increased risk of overdose.

Thunder Bay Safer Supply Program ("TBSSP")
Norwest Community Health Centres - Thunder Bay, ON

$1,501,486 over 18 months to implement a pilot safer supply program within the Norwest Community Health Centre. The program's prescribers will provide assessment, monitoring, and prescriptions for daily-dispensed, take-home oral hydromorphone to eligible clients. Clients will have access to a range of health and psychosocial supports and wraparound services that address the social determinants of health.

Strengthening the Substance Use Workforce: Prevention of Moral Injury through Anti-Oppression Training, Creativity, and Community Engagement
Trellis HIV & Community Care (formerly HIV/AIDS Regional Services)- Kingston, ON

$1,337,264 over 18 months to increase the capacity and the quality of support at their Integrated Care Hub. This program will implement a holistic approach to care that recognizes the complex circumstances of those accessing services by addressing substance use, mental health, lack of housing, and developing specific skills for employment. The initiative will also provide specialized anti-oppression and prevention of moral injury training for the substance use workforce. The funding will also allow the launch an outreach program to the underserved population of women under 30 who use substances to better understand their needs.

Prince Edward Island (PEI) (total of $250,349)

A Path Forward
Native Council of PEI - Charlottetown, PEI

$68,382 in addition to the $511,808 the project already received from SUAP, to continue to deliver individualized and group treatment recovery plans that are land-based, with culturally sensitive activities, to support off-reserve Indigenous people who use drugs in PEI. Additional funds will be used to expand outreach.

Mobile Harm Reduction Team
Native Council of PEI - Charlottetown, PEI

$181,967 in addition to the $387,658 already received from SUAP, to hire additional mobile outreach workers for distribution of harm reduction supplies to off-reserve Indigenous people who use drugs in PEI, and to train peers in overdose response. This additional funding will be also used to expand the hours of service to ensure the needs of communities in three locations in PEI are being met.

Saskatchewan (total of $1,616,909)

APSS Opioid Overdose Prevention Program (AOOP)
AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan - Regina, SK

$284,866 in addition to the $384,847 already received from SUAP, to reduce overdose risks and prevent opioid overdoses for Indigenous people who use substances and for those at risk of opioid use/overdose in North Central core of Regina. Program includes one on one, small group and drop-in overdose prevention education sessions as well as Naloxone training and kit distribution to target demographics of people who use substances in the correctional system as well as people in Indigenous communities, at-risk youth and professionals. The additional funding will increase project reach to target demographics and extend the availability of a peer worker.

Transition Recovery Program
Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority - Prince Albert, SK

$171,050 in addition to the $656,610 already received from SUAP to extend outreach and on-site services at Lac La Ronge and incorporate a wellness component for children of clients, as well as engage in an evaluation of the Transitional Recovery Program. This funding supports transition recovery workers who provide case management services and assistance in navigating services and programs for Indigenous people who are recovering from opiate use or who are on opiate agonist therapy.

An Interprofessional Model for Chronic Pain Opioid Management
University of Saskatchewan - Saskatoon, SK

$825,000 in addition to the $1,723,853 already received from SUAP, to test an interprofessional approach that offers pain management, opioid tapering and educational services to patients in Saskatchewan who are at high risk for opioid related harm and unintentional overdose. The additional funding will be used to hire two client navigators, increase the hours of the physician and translate educational documents into three of the most common Indigenous languages in Saskatchewan.

Harm Reduction and Complex Case Management Program Coordination
Saskatchewan Health Authority - Nipawing, SK

$335,993 in addition to the $491,884 already received from SUAP, to create person-centred, community led, and multi-disciplinary harm reduction program in New England, Saskatchewan for community members experiencing substance use related harms in the Nipawin area. This funding will increase reach by hiring an additional registered nurse to help cover the Northeastern Saskatchewan geographical area.

Yukon (total of $243,884)

Scaling up harm reduction and opioid overdose response in Yukon
Blood Ties Four Directions Centre Society - Whitehorse, YK

$60,050 in addition to the $306,070 already received from SUAP, to expand drug checking services and offer information on relevant issues such as tainted drug supply, to provide satellite harm reduction outreach services increasing access for Indigenous people who use drugs in rural settings. This additional funding will be used to provide outreach events, including community stakeholder sessions in various rural Indigenous communities.

Community Harm Reduction Programs: Expanding Community-Based Harm Reduction Education in the Yukon
Blood Ties Four Directions Centre Society - Whitehorse, YK

$183,834 over 18 months to conduct qualitative in-depth interviews with health care and social service providers, decision-makers, and people with lived and living experience of substance use; deliver harm reduction training for social service providers and decision-makers; host public education events on substance use; and offer a Street College training program.