A new respite centre to be run by the St. Felix Centre in downtown Toronto is facing strong opposition from community stakeholders.

Benedict Labre House, a Montreal non-profit that was once a Catholic “house of hospitality,” is at the centre of controversy over plans to operate a novel form of supervised injection site (SIS) at its new centre meters from a day-care and elementary school.

TORONTO - There are 9,000 injection drug users in Toronto and another 3,000 in Ottawa. They face arrest all the time. Many addicts live in neighbourhoods with a concentration of counselling and detox facilities. The federal government has launched anti-drug subway posters to combat the problem.

Chances are there will still be 12,000 injection drug users in Ontario’s two biggest cities next year and the year after that.