Over the concerns of some councillors about the rushed process and the potential risk to taxpayers, Peterborough city council has endorsed a motion to reduce development charges in the city by 50 per cent in the hopes of getting a share of $8.8 billion in federal and provincial funding over the next 10 years intended to increase housing by making it more affordable.

At the end of council’s general committee meeting on Monday night (June 8), Mayor Jeff Leal introduced a lengthy motion under “other business” that proposed the reduction in development charges, which the city levies against new development as a primary source of funding for growth-related capital expenditures, as part of the city’s application to the Ontario government’s new Development Charge Reduction Program (DCRP).

After reading out the 466-word motion, the mayor said the city has has “conversations over the last number of weeks with both the province of Ontario and the government of Canada” and that the motion would be a “bold step” in meeting the city’s housing commitments.

“We need to do everything to pursue the goal that we have for the province of Ontario to build 4,700 new units by the year 2031,” Leal said. “Tonight with this motion to make the deadlines of the government of Ontario, it will allow us to pursue this target in a great and significant way by reducing development charges over the next period of time.”

New provincial program rewards municipalities with funding for reducing development charges

Back in March, Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney signed the Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build, which includes $8.8 billion in federal and provincial funding over 10 years for Ontario municipalities that reduce and maintain low development charges, as well as a harmonized sales tax (HST) rebate, with the intent of reducing the cost of new homes.

On June 1, the Ontario government opened applications for the DCRP, with a June 19 deadline to coincide with the HST rebate. Municipalities that reduce development charges for all residential types by 30 to 50 per cent or greater, and maintain the reductions for at least three years, would qualify for funding under the program. Municipalities would be expected to contribute a minimum of 10 per cent of project costs.

The province will assess municipal applications based on the percentage of the development charge reduction, the percentage of the municipality’s financial contribution, and the number of homes projected to be built as a result of the reduced development charges.

“Housing-enabling projects would be prioritized with consideration for the number of homes enabled by the project,” states a provincial media release. “Municipalities are strongly encouraged to be as ambitious as possible in their (development charge) rate reductions to secure as much funding as possible for their communities.”

Of the 444 municipalities in Ontario, those that currently levy development charges — over 200 urban municipalities — would be eligible to apply to DCRP.

The City of Peterborough’s development charges for residential units currently range from $42,555 to $68,604 per unit, depending on the type of unit, plus area-specific charges. In 2025, the city earned $6.5 million in revenue from development charges.

Councillors question process behind last-minute motion

With respect to the mayor’s motion, after councillors Dave Haacke and Kevin Duguay spoke in support of it, councillor Alex Bierk asked councillor Andrew Beamer, as chair of general committee, whether the mayor’s motion was a reconsideration of a council decision.

Bierk said council had earlier approved development charge rates and was now being asked to reduce them, also noting that council’s new procedure by-law prohibits motions to reconsider a council decision from being introduced under other business.

Beamer ruled that the motion was not a reconsideration, but told Bierk that it would need to have a two-thirds majority vote as an item under other business, as it would if it were a reconsideration.

“I don’t know if I feel comfortable even voting on this,” Bierk said in response. “When we’ve when we’ve discussed the idea of raising or lowering development charges, we’ve looked at the comparator data of other municipalities. Those have been lengthy conversations that we’ve had at this council that have been substantiated through a lot of data by consultants that we paid to do the work to provide us that data.”

“This council has made decisions on 18-storey buildings and the selling point against the negative impact for those decisions in the arguments around the table has been ‘Look at the development charges we’re going to get. Look at how much revenue the city is going to receive in development charges by approving these projects.’ I’m unclear in reading this motion on the fly which projects would be benefited through this cut rate, which wouldn’t, which we’ve already received development charges for … and all these questions just lead me as a councillor to want to have more time to consider this.”

“I’m wondering why — if as the mayor stated that there’s been long conversations with the province and the government of Canada about this government program that was forthcoming — why it wasn’t put in a report from staff so that we could consider this, so that the public could could consider this, in the way that we always do? … I’m all for taking bold steps, I just don’t want to step into a hundred foot hole.”

Councillor Joy Lachica echoed Bierk’s concerns, pointing out that council had passed the development charges by-law that is in effect from January 1 to December 31 of this year and that previous motions to modify an approved by-law have been ruled as motions to reconsider. She said the mayor’s motion should have come forward as an agenda item and that councillors should have had the opportunity to review it in advance.

She asked finance and corporate commissioner Richard Freymond whether proceeding with the motion was a “wise move,” and Freymond said that this was the first opportunity to bring it forward to council given that staff — despite the earlier senior-level conversations between the city and the provincial and federal governments — only received the DCRP guidelines on June 1.

Freymond added that, given the province’s June 19 deadline, “I will not have another opportunity to bring it back.” He said staff have not yet confirmed specific projects that would benefit from the DCRP.

Councillor Lesley Parnell said she didn’t consider the motion to be a reconsideration because it was a new government program. She spoke in support of the motion, asking “Can we afford not to do it?” and adding “We have to take the step” due to the lack of shovel-ready projects. She said the DCRP will be a “fantastic kickstart for affordability, for anybody who wants to buy a house.”

She said that, although the province should have given municipalities a lot more time to consider it and conduct analysis, “This is an opportunity that we cannot pass up.”

Taxpayers could be on the hook if city’s funding application is unsuccessful

In his comments, councillor Keith Riel noted there are 400 municipalities in Ontario and the province’s largest municipalities including Toronto would probably “eat up” most of the $8.8 billion for the program. He asked staff what would happen to those municipalities that don’t receive funding.

In responding to the question, Freymond explained the DCRP is not available to all 444 municipalities in Ontario, but is “tailored to the urban municipalities.”

“The councillor is quite correct, though, to be concerned — there is risk,” Freymond added. “There is no guarantee that if council reduces the rates tonight by 50 per cent. that we will ultimately get rewarded through infrastructure funding. That is not guaranteed, so there is a risk here. But there will be definitely, in my opinion as I said a moment ago, a cost if we do not do this.”

Riel asked Freymond if city taxpayers would be on the hook for lost development charge revenues if the city’s application to DCRP is not successful.

Freymond said that, if the city’s application is successful, he expects the city would receive more revenue through infrastructure funding than it would lose from development charges. However, he confirmed that if the city’s application is unsuccessful, growth-related infrastructure not covered by development charges “would be funded by the taxpayer.”

Freymond’s comment reflects a statement in his April 13 report to general committee on the 2025 annual report for the city’s development charge reserve funds, which noted that the city’s capital commitments exceed the $30.3 million balance in the reserves by a factor of five.

“Given the challenging economic climate for developers, staff have contemplated the reduction of development charges in the city’s growth areas to stimulate residential development,” the report reads. “Given the city has already incurred the outlay of cash required to build the infrastructure to enable the growth to occur and done so under the premise that the monies would be collected from the development community at a future time, reducing the development charges requires the taxpayer to fund the reserve shortfalls.”

Riel asked why there couldn’t have been a special general committee meeting to consider the motion, especially given the potential risk to the taxypayer. Freymond said councillors will have an opportunity to finalize their decision on the motion at council’s regular meeting next Monday (June 15).

In speaking in support of his motion, Mayor Leal said there have been telephone conversations “over the past couple of weeks” with the provincial and federal goverments “to make sure that the City of Peterborough was well-positioned to take advantage of this program.”

“There’s about 250 to 275 urban municipalities in Ontario that are in competition for the $8.8 billion,” the mayor said. “It’s crucial for our infrastructure planning that we take this opportunity to acquire what is our fair share of this $8.8 billion.”

“While we haven’t identified projects yet, I’ll give you a project just off the top of my head that I think would be a candidate for this. This would be the Cold Springs secondary planned area that we’ve identified as our Alto train site,” Leal said. “We do know that (Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack) will be arriving in Peterborough on July the 9th, and I want to make sure that, prior to his visit, we put the City of Peterborough in the best possible light for infrastructure funding from the province of Ontario.”

Motion passes after council rejects deferral for a special meeting

Councillor Lachica made a motion to defer the Mayor’s motion until council could hold a special general committee meeting prior to the regular council meeting on June 15 so that councillors could get some answers, especially given the risk to taxpayers that Freymond mentioned.

“I feel like when we have news of something, even if it’s imminent and it’s just happened, please share it with council so that we can absorb and reflect, and so that we all have the information at the same time,” Lachica said. “I find it really frustrating when there is a lack of transparency about new information. We need a few days to absorb this.”

Speaking in support of Lachica’s motion, councillor Bierk point out the provincial government will make shovel-ready projects a priority and that the municipality would need to contribute at least 10 per cent of project costs. After Freymond said that that a minimum municipal contribution is standard for cost-shared projects, Bierk replied that the funding would be prioritized for municipalities that can contribute more than 10 per cent.

Councillor Gary Baldwin suggested that, rather than having a separate meeting, councillors could send questions to Freymond while city staff are working through the issues, and Freymond could send a memo to councillors in advance of the June 15 council meeting to address the questions.

After some further debate, councillors voted 3-7 against Lachica motion to defer, with her and councillors Bierk and Riel voting in favour and Mayor Leal and councillors Don Vassiliadis, Beamer, Haacke, Parnell, Duguay, and Baldwin voting against. Councillor Matt Crowley was absent from the meeting.

Councillors then voted on the Mayor’s motion, which passed carried 8-2 with councillors Lachica and Bierk voting against it.

Items endorsed by general committee will be considered by council for final approval next Monday (June 15), when registered delegations will be heard.

Council meetings are streamed live at www.peterborough.ca.

Peterborough-Nogojiwanong Pride has announced the theme for Pride Week 2026 is “Woven Together.”

On June 2, Peterborough Pride posted on their Facebook page that, following contributions from the community, the theme had been chosen to represent connections within the 2SLGBTQIA community.

While June is Pride Month, Peterborough’s annual Pride Week celebration takes place in September, with this year’s celebration set for Friday, September 18, to Sunday, September 27.

‘It is the unity and connection of each thread that gives us strength and visibility’

Peterborough Pride’s website details the reasoning behind this year’s theme, highlighting inclusion, intersectionality, and resilience and describing how each individual and their unique experience is a thread that contributes to the tapestry of the 2SLGBTQIA community.

“No thread is more important than the next,” the website reads. “It is the unity and connection of each thread that gives us strength and visibility.”

The theme also recognizes the importance of diversity and strength as 2SLGBTQIA rights continue to face attacks across the world

“When one part of our community is under attack, we all are. Transphobia, ableism, racism, sexism, homophobia, and hate are slowly cutting away at the threads of our tapestry.”

The Woven Together theme and its tapestry motifs are also inspired by, and in honour of, the AIDS Quilt. Considered the largest community arts project in the world, the 54-ton tapestry originated with American activist and author Cleve Jones in 1985.

Now under the stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial, the quilt displays memorial panels dedicated to over 110,000 individuals. Canada is one of more than 35 countries that also has an AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Pride Week theme honours the legacy of the AIDS Quilt

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized in the United States in 1981, with Canada reporting its first case in March 1982. A connection between Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and AIDS was recognized in 1982 in part due to reports of cases in blood transfusion recipients.

The AIDS crisis of the 1980s was closely connected to the gay liberation movement due to the disproportionate number of gay men affected by HIV/AIDS and the subsequent injustice faced by these men in the healthcare system.

“The creation of the original quilt brought the 2SLGBTQIA community together in remembrance, protest, and love,”, reads Peterborough Pride’s website. “Each square of the quilt is woven together to tell the story of a life and of those who refuse to let their story be forgotten

Further to this, Peterborough Pride states that the theme “recognizes how social determinants of health, including access to care, housing, and food security, impact the tapestry of our community and its well-being.”

Local supports for gender-diverse residents

Locally, trans and non-binary individuals have been identified by the Peterborough Community Health Centre (PCHC) as facing social, economic, and health inequalities. Members of the 2SLGBTQIA community are part of the PCHC’s priority population and the clinic provides gender-inclusive care and support through program such as the Trans ID Clinic.

The Trans ID Clinic is a free monthly service where individuals can receive guidance with navigating systems related to identification and documentation. The clinic occurs at the PCHC’s 360 George Street North location on the first Monday of the month.

“This welcoming and inclusive space provides guidance with legal name changes, gender marker updates, and updating government-issued ID,” said a spokesperson for the PCHC in an email to kawarthaNOW.

The PCHC said that individuals often face barriers related to identification and documentation when accessing healthcare, housing, employment and other important services. Programs such as the Trans ID Clinic help create a space where individuals can receive “practical assistance, information and guidance in a respectful environment.”

The Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre offers the program Creating Gender Diverse Communities, which provides one-on-one mentorship and culturally informed services for youth aged 16 or over.

Services include access to gender-affirming gear and traditional medicines to support 2SLGBTQIA youth, in particular those identifying as two-spirit or Indigiqueer. This program provides alternative well-being approaches that recognize the intersections of gender, well-being, and Indigeneity.

The Canadian Mental Health Association – Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge Branch (CMHA HKPR) operates a Trans Peer Outreach program which provides one-on-one consultation or group programming for young people aged 16 or older who identify as trans, non-binary, or are questioning their gender.

The outreach program, which is offered at no cost to trans and gender-diverse people, aims to improve well-being and quality of life through client-centred care. In their one-on-one consultation services, CMHA HKPR provides support navigating the healthcare system and identifies developing advocacy skills for accessing healthcare as a focus.

CMHA HKPR also offer a Trans Peer Family Outreach group for family members and other loved ones.

‘Governments continue to fall short regarding intersex rights’

Intersexism activist Nikki Lawrence spoke to kawarthaNOW recently about her experiences accessing healthcare in Ontario as a person with intersexism. Lawrence said she had faced prejudice and witnessed ignorance regarding intersexism.

“Finding new doctors and finding doctors that want to actually work with me — it’s kind of hell,” said Lawrence.

She detailed past experiences of being dismissed and ignored by medical professionals and spoke about the need for more awareness and education on intersexism not only in schools but beyond.

Intersexism is considered rare and, as such, intersex individuals make up only a small percentage of the 2SLGBTQIA community. Lawrence noted she had seen some healthcare providers promote themselves as inclusive, but in practice continue to cause harm to intersex and non-cisgender members of the 2SLGBTQIA community.

“Even though they have the flag, it doesn’t always mean they’re accepting,” said Lawrence.

Through her work with Egale Canada and Intersex Canada, Lawrence is working to rewrite best practices and policy recommendations regarding how intersex infants are treated in hospitals and by healthcare providers.

A 2025 report by Egale Canada said that “federal and provincial governments continue to fall short regarding intersex rights,” noting concerns about pervasive stigma, medicalization, and systemic exclusion.

Notably, Canada permits doctors to perform surgery on intersex infants to alter their external genitalia with the permission of the parents. Egale Canada refers to this practice as Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM).

“I’m part of the group that is working to stop the killing or hurting of infants, like cutting off their genitals without the consent of the child,” said Lawrence.

For more information about Peterborough Pride and for upcoming events, visit www.peterboroughpride.ca. The group is currently seeking volunteers to help plan Pride Week.

Hours before the City of Peterborough’s new tourism strategy will be considered by city council, the city has announced that its new visitor centre will be located at the Peterborough Lift Lock, one of the city’s most iconic locations.

The new visitor centre will open year round as of Friday, June 26, serving as an information hub where both visitors and locals can find information about attractions, experiences, and local businesses in Peterborough.

Before the city assumed responsibility for tourism services from the now-defunct Peterborough & The Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) in 2025, the visitor centre was located at PKED’s office at the Venture North building in downtown Peterborough. It was then moved to its current location at the box office inside the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

At its new location at 353 Hunter Street East in East City, at the base of the Lift Lock, the visitor centre will be able to welcome visitors arriving by boat, car, bike, or on foot. According to a media release from the city, the space has been designed with flexibility and accessibility in mind. It will be operated by Peterborough Tourism, the city’s tourism services and destination marketing program.

“This new Visitor Centre at the Lift Lock represents an exciting step forward in how we welcome people to Peterborough,” said Mayor Jeff Leal in the media release. “The Peterborough Lift Lock is one of our most iconic attractions and a celebrated National Historic Site of Canada. As the largest urban centre along the waterway, our connection to the water is central to both our community identity and visitor experience. This new space strengthens that connection and invites exploration year-round.”

The new location represents a collaboration between the city and Parks Canada, which operated the Peterborough Lift Lock Visitor Centre at the same location until it was closed in early 2020 due to the pandemic and never reopened.

“The Visitor Centre at the Lift Lock will once again be a welcoming, accessible hub where visitors and community members can come together, explore, and experience all that our vibrant region has to offer,” said Peterborough MPP Emma Harrison.

“By reopening the doors to more inclusive and engaging ways to discover the Trent-Severn Waterway, this initiative helps bring people closer to the stories, culture, and connections that make Peterborough so special. It’s also great to see the centre being run by people who know it best, bringing local knowledge and passion to the experience.”

In the release, the city states that programming will be developed in the coming months for the visitor centre “that celebrates the area’s culture, heritage, and natural environment, including Indigenous perspectives, with opportunities to amplify diverse voices and stories.”

Meanwhile, city council will be considering the city’s new tourism strategy at its general committee meeting on Monday night (June 8). The strategy, entitled “Discover Peterborough: Tourism Growth Strategy,” is intended to guide the city’s tourism service delivery and activities through to 2030.

The 56-page strategy was developed by Bannikin Travel & Tourism, following city council’s approval on February 3, 2025 of a $100,000 capital budget for a tourism strategic plan, using funds that were previously allocated to PKED.

While the tourism strategy was being developed, the city has proceeded with the implementation of tourism services under the banner of Peterborough Tourism. Activities to date include the development and launch of the Elevate Peterborough pilot project that supports local festivals and events, support for a variety of tourism-related festivals, events, and tournaments, creation and distribution of print materials and advertising campaigns, travel media hosting and major media promotion, a new website, and more.

After arresting a 29-year-old Peterborough man for smashing a front window at La Mesita Restaurante in downtown Peterborough early Sunday morning (June 7), police are addressing community concerns about their response time to the incident.

Martin and Kelly Carbajal, owners of the Mexican restaurant at 247 George Street North just north of Sherbrooke, posted a photo of the smashed window on social media on Sunday morning, promoting hundreds of reactions and comments ranging from support to frustration to outrage.

Some of the comments criticized the response time of Peterborough police to the incident, given the size of the police budget, with the Carbajals noting that police did not arrive at the restaurant until later that morning.

On Monday morning, police issued a media release stating they had received calls about the smashed window at around 2:35 a.m. on Sunday. After beginning their investigation later that morning, they identified a suspect with the assistance of video evidence, including police CCTV cameras.

Their investigation determined that the suspect had been removed from a nearby establishment prior to breaking the window. Although police did not identify the establishment, both Riley’s and The Junction are located immediately to the north of the restaurant.

While walking past the restaurant, police say the suspect smashed the restaurant window with his fist and continued walking.

At around 5 p.m. on Sunday, the suspect — who was aware officers were looking for him — turned himself into the police, at which time he was arrested and charged with mischief under $5,000. He was released on an undertaking and promise to appear in court, with a hearing scheduled for September 1.

Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts issued a statement regarding the incident, including the police response.

“The incident has received significant attention in local and social media, and it is very unfortunate and disappointing that this happened as the impact on the restaurant owner is very real,” Chief Betts said.

“As chief of police, I would like to address the comments about the police response and acknowledge there can be frustration when officers aren’t immediately available to respond to a call, therefore, I would like to take the unusual step of sharing with the community what our officers were engaged with at the time the call came in for the broken window.”

According to the police chief, police were dealing with 12 other calls when they received calls about the smashed window.

The other calls included a mental health call in which a person was on a bridge threatening self-harm and was apprehended and taken to Peterborough Regional Health Centre for their safety, an intimate partner violence call resulting in an arrest and a man being transported to the police station, and a disturbing-the-peace call for an intoxicated man creating problems downtown, who was arrested and transported to the police station.

“In addition to the above calls, there were an additional nine calls in the queue,” Chief Betts said. “Considering the calls in progress and those others outstanding, our communicators notified the restaurant owner that officers would be unavailable to attend until the dayshift as the response at that point was an investigative one.”

“I recognize that incidents like these are frustrating and can garner a lot of heated discourse, often made in the heat of the moment without a full awareness of what is taking place throughout the entirety of the city, and while it may not feel like it, the men and women of your police service continue to perform an outstanding job,” Chief Betts added.

He also asked residents to “consider the numbers below,” providing a list of the increasing number of arrests and charges in the first six months of each of the past four years, “and where things would be without the investment (city) council has made in public safety.” For example, there were 1,252 arrests and 2,025 charges from January 1 to June 8 in 2023, with those numbers increasing to 1,978 arrests and 3,185 charges in the same period this year.

“I am grateful for their support and incredibly proud of the work of our entire team,” Betts concluded. “Our members are your neighbours, they shop where you shop, their kids go to school and play sports with your kids, and they are equally frustrated and invested in this city and work hard to be responsive and keep it safe for you and for their families.”

A social media post from a downtown Peterborough business whose front window was smashed over the weekend is getting reactions ranging from support to frustration to outrage.

On Sunday (June 7), La Mesita Restaurante at 247 George Street North just north of Sherbrooke posted a photo of the smashed window, which was vandalized sometime before 4 a.m. that morning.

“Wonder why this happens to many small business(es) in downtown Peterborough,” reads the Facebook post, noting the cost to replace the window will be around $2,000. “Don’t even know what to rant about.”

Chef Martin Carbajal and his wife Kelly opened La Mesita in 2017 to share the dishes he was raised on while growing up in Mexico City, and it has since become a popular destination for authentic Mexican cuisine, serving up street-style and home-cooked tacos, quesadillas, tortas, fajitas, and other bites, available for dine-in or take-out.

In addition to appearing regularly at local farmers’ markets, La Mesita expanded in May to run a food truck called La Mesita Mexican Grill at the Buckhorn Garage at 3192 Buckhorn Road, south of Buckhorn.

By Sunday afternoon, the post about the smashed window had 785 reactions and 260 comments. Many of the comments offered support for the Carbajals while others lamented the state of downtown or criticized the police who, according to the Carbajals, were unable to show up until later Sunday morning.

While some commenters noted that insurance should cover the damage, others responded that the deductible or the impact on premiums might make an insurance claim inadvisable, while some noted that the small business still has to come up with the funds to replace the window even if they are later reimbursed by insurance.

In a message to kawarthaNOW, Kelly said she and Martin don’t know how much it will actually cost to replace the window, as they were only given “a very rough estimate,” but they will not be making an insurance claim.

“I spoke to our insurance agent today and she told me it’s not worth putting through as a claim, because of what it will do to our insurance rates and possible future insurability,” Kelly said.

Several people have suggested launching a GoFundMe, while others encouraged people to patronize the business.

“I am so humbled by the outpouring of the community,” Kelly said of the reaction to the Facebook post.

Those who want to help out the Carbajals with the window replacement can send an etransfer to info@lamesita.ca.

The original version of this story has been updated with a message from Kelly Carbajal.

The closure of Peterborough’s Consumption and Treatment Site (CTS) has led to local health and community leaders speaking out about impacts on non-consumption based services.

“If there are people that have only been accessing care through the CTS, we do worry about them,” Danielle Howson, executive director and nurse practitioner lead at the Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, told kawarthaNOW. “Where are they going to go? How are they going to access care?”

A response to the opioid crisis, the Peterborough CTS opened in June 2022 inside the renovated former bus terminal at 220 Simcoe Street in downtown Peterborough to provide a safe and medically supported space for people to consume pre-obtained illicit substances under the supervision of health professionals.

CTS offered walk-in access to primary care services through a registered nurse

The Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic had been providing a full-scope registered nurse (RN) to the CTS, who offered primary care services such as wound care, antibiotic prescriptions, and systems navigation support. Howson explained that RN services were offered on a walk-in basis to allow the CTS clinic to support unattached and often unhoused patients.

The loss of this on-site and accessible service is worrying for Howson, as many individuals accessing the CTS clinic do not receive care elsewhere nor have a regular primary care provider such as a family doctor.

“We know that the population of people that attend the CTS are a cohort that doesn’t necessarily have regular primary care interactions,” Howson said.

She added the scope of the RN position enabled them to provide routine primary care services as well as specialized care for the distinct needs of the unhoused and substance-using populations.

“Somebody that’s living rough is exposed to the elements, which leads to some complex wounds,” she explained. “Also anybody who uses injectable substances has a higher risk for wounds.”

There are some other organizations within Peterborough that offer services that overlap with the care the RN was providing at the CTS, including Peterborough Street Medicine, a physician-led organization that provides care to unhoused and precariously housed individuals.

Through an alternate funding model that pays physicians hourly rather than by fee-for-service, Peterborough Street Medicine offers services at locations such as Brock Mission, Cameron House, the YES Shelter, and the modular housing community on Wolfe Street, without requiring patients to enrol with a physician.

However, for Howson, the CTS provided a valuable centralized location that offered low-barrier access to healthcare that cannot be replicated by other outreach and homelessness services.

“It’s just one more barrier to people that are already facing barriers, and one more valuable resource that is being taken away from that community,” said Howson.

CTS closure may increase pressure on weekly clinic at Trinity Community Centre

Trinity Community Centre, operated by One City Peterborough, is another low-barrier space for unhoused and precariously housed people to access services such as healthcare and systems navigation support.

In a recent interview with kawarthaNOW, Donna Rogers, executive director of Four Counties Addiction Services Team (Fourcast), said the CTS closure would impact Trinity due in large part to an overlap of client population as well as the proximity of Trinity to the downtown core.

Trinity houses an on-site clinic consisting of two exam rooms operated one afternoon a week in partnership with the Peterborough Community Health Centre and Peterborough Street Medicine.

“They could be here seven days a week … there are enough health issues,” said One City outreach programs director Auden Palmer of the healthcare professionals who provide services at the clinic.

Palmer said, whle One City and Trinity are sometimes seen as an alternative to the CTS for providing primary care to unhoused and precariously housed people, this is a oversimplification and does not recognise the unique services the CTS offered.

Palmer pointed out that One City’s focus at Trinity is to offer a drop-in day program and an overnight shelter, not healthcare services.

“We’re not a health organization we have no plans to become a health organization,” Palmer said.

One City sees its role in serving the overlapping population of users of the CTS and Trinity as providing housing stabilization infrastructure while partnering with healthcare organizations.

Loss of primary care outreach at CTS may have downstream impacts on healthcare system

Healthcare professionals like Howson and public health specialists have said that the loss of primary care outreach at the CTS will have detrimental impacts on the healthcare system at large.

In particular, the CTS closure may result in increased emergency medical situations that could have been prevented by consistent care or early treatment provided by the RN at the CTS.

“There’s a really big importance placed on getting people that care when they need it and not waiting until it’s bad enough for tertiary care,” Howson said.

Ashley Safar, executive director of the Peterborough Community Health Centre, spoke about the impacts of the CTS closure in an earlier interview with kawarthaNOW, noting it was a space where some individuals were accessing both mental health and primary care services.

“I am concerned about what the impact will look like on the larger healthcare system,” Safar said.

Local collaborations will continue to provide services to unattached patients

Howson told kawarthaNOW that, despite the CTS closure, the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic will continue to collaborate closely with CTS partners Fourcast and Peterborough Community Paramedics to provide services to unattached patients, calling it “phenomenal collaboration.”

However, she noted that future collaborations would be dependent on funding.

Going forward, Howsen said the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic would retain the RN position that was at the CTS within their team but for a different function.

On a broader level, with $688,000 in new funding recently announced by the Ontario government, the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic will work alongside the Peterborough Family Health Team and their Connect Clinic to attach patients currently without a permanent primary care provider.

The Connect Clinic provides transitional care to currently unattached patients, using the Health Care Connect waitlist to work with family health team physicians and nurse practitioners, as well as community partners such as the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic and the Peterborough Community Health, Centre to find long-term attachment for patients.