Parents from a downtown school located near a proposed safe-injection site staged another protest on Tuesday.
Spectre de Rue, on Ontario St. E. in the Gay Village, has operated as a needle exchange for nearly 20 years, and by next week, it's slated to begin allowing drug users to inject under medical supervision. The idea is to cut the number of drug overdoses, and cut down on the transmission of potentially deadly diseases.
But the Marguerite Bourgeoys elementary school is located a block away, on Plessis St., and parents say the facility should be moved elsewhere — in part, because the area has become more residential in recent years.
“It was maybe a good place to open a site 10 years ago but now it’s not the right place,” said Christelle Perrine, president of the school’s governing board. “We’d like to discuss with them the way to provide this new service but in safety conditions for everybody, for the users of drugs but also the residential people and the kids.”
Last month, the school's parents hired constitutional lawyer Julius Grey to help with their case. They're calling on the government to step in, and are considering seeking a court injunction if they don't.