Substance Use and Addictions Program in support of Ontario communities

The Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) provides time-limited funding for a wide range of innovative and evidence-informed projects including substance use prevention, harm reduction and treatment initiatives across the country. The Government of Canada is providing more than $17 million for 13 projects across Ontario under SUAP that will support community-led initiatives to improve health outcomes for individuals affected by substance use and addictions.

October 2025

The Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP) provides time-limited funding for a wide range of innovative and evidence-informed projects including substance use prevention, harm reduction and treatment initiatives across the country.

The Government of Canada is providing more than $17 million for 13 projects across Ontario under SUAP that will support community-led initiatives to improve health outcomes for individuals affected by substance use and addictions.

The backgrounder below describes the projects receiving funding.

Cat Lake First Nation – Circles of Support, Cat Lake First Nation, ON
$1,649,127 for their project introducing contingency management and client-led circles of support to its existing in-community treatment program for Indigenous adults in various stages of opioid and stimulant dependency. The project is an expansion of the regional 'hub-and-spoke' service system model developed by the Sioux Lookout Friendship Accord Chiefs in 2021 which functions as the anchor "hub" establishment. Located within the Nishnawbe Aski Nation Territory in Ontario, Cat Lake First Nation will serve as a secondary "spoke" establishment. Project activities include counselling, cultural activities, workshops, and cultural revitalization through using land-based skills, ceremonies, and traditions.

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) – SmokeFreeConnect: A Virtual and Community Hub for Quitting Together for People Living in Remote and Rural Communities, Toronto, ON
$2,690,401 for their project developing a smoking cessation virtual platform that will drive behaviour change in Canadians who use commercial tobacco products specifically in rural communities or communities where the need for smoking cessation is high and access to services is limited. The project helps individuals connect with others to provide community connection and peer support through an online platform, SmokeFreeConnect. Through the project, Community Ambassadors will be hired in 10 rural communities across Canada to help plan in-person meetings and develop links with health providers that will be used as a model for other communities.

Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario – Hospital Community Collaboration to Improve Trauma Informed and Culturally Sensitive Alcohol Use Disorder Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral for Youth, Ottawa, ON
$1,161,781 for their project building on a 2021 pilot which implemented an evidence-based screening tool by service providers at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to help address inconsistent alcohol or substance use screening for youth ages 12 to 21 in Ottawa. The project is focused on Francophone, First Nation, Inuit, and Métis youth and their families/caregivers.

Governing Council of the University of Toronto (The) – Safe Op project: prevention of chronic pain and opioid harms through the formalization and knowledge mobilization of best practices in perioperative pain management, Toronto, ON
$1,200,000 for their project to update a national consensus statement on best practices for perioperative opioid prescribing. It recommends educating patients, assessing patient risk for persistent opioid use, judicial post-operative prescribing for pain management, and careful follow-up. The project focuses on those who prescribe pain management medication for patients undergoing elective surgery including surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, and family doctors.

Grenfell Ministries – National Overdose Response Service (NORS): A national hotline service connecting callers with peers for wellness planning, prevention education, and safer substance use consumption and support, Owen Sound, ON
An amendment of $146,200 for their project to expand their existing national peer-led virtual overdose monitoring service, NORS. With this amendment, the project is receiving a total of $6,380,034 in funding This project supports communities disproportionately impacted by substance use including those in contact with the criminal justice system, those transitioning to treatment, rural, Indigenous, and construction/service industry workers.

John Howard Society of York Region – Peer Mission, Newmarket, ON
An amendment of $74,072 to provide a harm-reduction focused, peer-led support group and drop-in/outreach programming for individuals living with addiction in York Region and Simcoe & Muskoka County, and to deliver evidence-based, client-centered programming focused on harm reduction and safe usage. With this amendment, the project is receiving a total of $1,222,429 in funding. The project is supporting marginalized individuals who use substances with a focus on reintegration supports for individuals exiting correctional institutions, as well as racialized and/or marginalized populations, and those involved or at-risk of involvement with the justice system.

McMaster University – National Pain Standard Development & Dissemination, Hamilton, ON
$1,800,000 for their project to develop a new standard to address pain in adults and integrate the new standard into a suite of existing guidelines. The guidelines include a pediatric pain standard, and pain-focused materials from a long-term care standard for seniors. The result will be the creation of a comprehensive national pain standard across the lifespan for health care professionals, health professional educators, caregiving organizations, people living with pain, and health care policy makers in Canada. The project focuses on transitions between pediatric and adult care, as well as to and from institutional care.

The Neighbourhood Group Community Services – Building Up People who use Crystal Meth; Phase 2 Peer Workers, Toronto, ON
$2,422,863 for their project providing people with lived and living experience who are graduates of the SUAP-funded Crystal Meth Program with training to become Peer-2-Peers (P2Ps). This will enable them to run support groups for the stimulant user community, as well as build and maintain partnerships in Toronto. P2Ps are being provided training to build on their existing knowledge of harm reduction and stimulant user needs, as well as leadership skills and communication skills.

Nipissing First Nation –True Self Debwewendizwin Outreach, Garden Village, ON
$2,911,106 for their project merging an Indigenous world view, healing centered engagement, peer support values and offer trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and anti-oppressive activities. The project is incorporating a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to deliver peer outreach activities including harm reduction services to community members experiencing addiction, codependence, homelessness and/or mental illness in the Nipissing District. It is also offering land-based wellness initiatives to guide participants through experiential learning and connection to land and natural forces to address addiction, trauma, and mental health.

Unity Health Toronto – A Proposal to Sustain and Scale Toronto's Drug Checking Service, Toronto, ON
An amendment of $3,100,000 for this project that expands drug checking service delivery in Toronto. With this amendment, the project is receiving a total of $5,100,000. The project aims to standardize the provision of drug checking services across a network of services in Ontario. Specifically, Toronto's Drug Checking Service provides tools, resources, and expertise to aid those across the province to design, execute, and evaluate drug checking programs locally.

University Health Network – Peer-to-Peer Harm Reduction in Toronto's Supportive Housing and Shelters, Toronto, ON
An amendment of $47,400 to expand a pilot project that provides a mobile overdose prevention app for people who use drugs alone and are residents of supportive housing and shelters in Toronto. With this amendment, the project is receiving a total of $1,705,754 in funding to support an expanded roll out to up to 400 individuals in Toronto. University Health Network is refining the app in collaboration with the Centre for Drug Policy and Evaluation to integrate their DoseCheck and drug checking data to issue real-time alerts about potential toxic drugs in circulation. The project is also working with people who use drugs to co-design new features that improve the app's usability. It will conclude with a full public launch of this app and creation of a public facing website.

University Health Network – Enhancing Surgical Care: A Novel Tobacco Cessation Program, Toronto, ON
An amendment of $50,000 to use electronic health records to deliver a virtual smoking cessation program to adults who smoke tobacco and who are scheduled for an elective surgery at the University Health Network in Toronto. With this amendment, the project is receiving a total of $246, 656. Surgical patients are sent automated messages including educational information, links to e-learning modules and online smoking treatment programming and nicotine replacement therapy.

University Of Western Ontario (The) – Leading the Way: PWLLE at the Forefront of Drug-Checking Initiatives, London, ON
An amendment of $394,293 for their project integrating people with lived and living experience (PWLLE) into drug-checking initiatives in harm reduction and public health centers in Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia. With this amendment, the project is receiving a total of $4,473,473 in funding. PWLLE are being trained in drug-checking technologies and methodologies to enable them to implement drug-checking initiatives and training programs in participating harm reduction and public health centres.