An advocacy group is hoping to grab the attention of provincial officials in order for plans to be actively put into place for a long-awaited 24-bed withdrawal management facility.
The Community Law School Social Justice Advocacy Group recently started the petition this month, and it received nearly 200 signatures within 24 hours of it being posted online.
Legal Education Councillor Margaret Capes said the advocacy group launched the petition after noticing a rise in overdose incidents in the community, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This group has decided to try and raise the level of awareness in the community about the need for this facility and try to put some pressure on the province to get some long standing promised money into the community," said Capes.
"The funding for this treatment centre has been promised for a very long time and so this group has decided to make a push for it at this time because there has just been so much tragedy around loss of life and ongoing addiction issues, particularly with younger people in the community."
Capes said the advocacy group recently had a conversation about the troubling topic with MPP Bob Bailey.
In an interview with Sarnia News Today, Bailey said he encourages residents to sign the petition and send letters to his office so he can submit those to the minister of health and minister of mental health and addictions.
"I understand that people get concerned but all I can say is I work continuously with the [minister] of health and her group, her department, along with the people back here in Lambton at Bluewater Health so the promises I made, were that I would continue to do that, continue the dialogue," said Bailey.
Premier Doug Ford had promised funding in 2018 for Sarnia-Lambton's long-planned facility. However, in 2019, Health Minister Christine Elliott said it was still something that was under "active discussion".
Bailey said although it may seem as though no progress has been made over the years, he argues funds have been promised and a few permanent beds have been made available.
"The Ministry of Health actually approved funding -- I think it was a year ago -- to create 12 additional beds at Ryan's House, now those are [transitional] beds but they're going to continue, and they're part of the seven permanent beds at Bluewater Health," said Bailey. "I know Bluewater Health has been working with the Ministry directly on fulfilling all of the requirements for the permanent facility which they'll make a capital submission for that and I understand that those steps are moving along very good."
Bailey also said he spoke with the Minister of Health at Queen's Park recently and was told she's aware of the issues and concerns.
Local health advocates said back in April that although the addition of Ryan's House has helped, the need for a larger permanent facility is now greater than ever.