Ottawa, ON – Today, Dan Mazier, Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, introduced Bill C-272 to ban supervised drug consumption and injection sites from operating within 500 metres of schools, daycares and playgrounds.
The bill amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to apply to all sites operating within the distance requirement that were approved directly by the federal Health Minister under Section 56.1 and those authorized through a provincial class exemption granted by the federal Minister, under Subsection 56(1).
According to Health Canada, fentanyl is the most commonly used drug at federally-approved consumption sites, accounting for nearly half of all visits, followed by meth.
“The Liberals have been approving drug consumption sites next to children without checking who is next door,” said Mazier. “When I asked the Health Minister at committee how many approved sites are located next to schools and daycares, she could not answer because her own department doesn’t collect that information.”
In 2023, Sandy Hill Child Care, a daycare in Ottawa just blocks away from a federally-approved supervised drug consumption site, was forced to shut down after increased drug use around the site made the neighbourhood unsafe for children.
On May 23, 2025, the Ottawa Police Chief wrote directly to the federal government asking the Health Minister to move supervised injection sites away from schools and daycares. The Minister ignored his request, approved the site’s renewal and refused at committee to rule out approving more consumption sites next to children.
Furthermore, a new scientific study published in the leading, peer-reviewed journal Addiction found that closing supervised consumption sites did not increase mortality or emergency department visits. In fact, the study found an increase in users connected to life-saving addiction treatment after the consumption site’s closure.
Provincial governments have already acted on this evidence by announcing closures of supervised consumption sites that are enabling drug use, rather than reducing it. There is a clear need for federal leadership, given the federal Health Minister is directly responsible for the legal authority that allows consumption sites to operate.
“Allowing drug consumption sites next to children is dangerous and unacceptable,” Mazier concluded. “No parent should have to worry about their child stepping on a used needle in the playground or walking through a cloud of fentanyl smoke on the way to school.”