September 30th was the last day of activity for the Rainbow House. “It is regrettable because we are losing an institution that was the only one for French-speaking young people in Northern Ontario,” MNA said vigorously for Mushkegowuk-James Bay, Guy Bourgouin.
Ontario Health’s decision comes when there would be no place in the region for treatment and a major opioid crisis is in full swing. The government would push the virtual meeting formula to help people in the region. “Imagine a young drug addict trying to get out of it, then he will have to find a computer to follow an online treatment! It’s really beautiful! ” adds the NDP deputy.
“The Minister for Mental Health and Addiction, Michael Tibollo, had given an extension until September because he told me he believed in Rainbow House and didn’t want it to close. I will visit him to thank him for the excellent work he has done, ”says Guy Bourgouin sarcastically.
The center was the only one to offer residential services in French in the north, and Ontario Health has not committed to using the money withdrawn from Maison Arc-en-ciel for other services in French. Last spring, Ontario Health’s threat to cut funding caused a lot of ink to flow, which allowed management to get a few months’ respite to make changes to maintain this service in the regions.
“Look, the decision was made, the government wanted to close it, Guy Bourgouin believes. They didn’t even give the organization time to make the changes Ontario Health required. And, faced with the threat of closure, employees found job opportunities and left.
The management of the center believes that the most affected will be the poor. Young French speakers will now have to travel to Ottawa to get the same service in their language. “We already have no services in the North, we had a place that tried to remove young people from the streets and their problems, but a political program decided otherwise. Above all, it was a paltry budget, it was a drop in the bucket in this department’s overall budget, but they cut it the same way. The government is on a mission to centralize services, they do not understand that we cannot centralize services in the North as we do in Toronto ”, concludes the parliamentarian.
Sale of facilities
Since the detox center’s assets belong to the parish of Hearst-Moosonee, in recent weeks he has simply decided to put up a sign for sale in front of the buildings. Rainbow House board members held a general membership meeting to legally end operations last week.
