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No need for safe injection sites: Scarpitti By Amanda Persico
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here are no proposals and there’s no need for safe drug injection sites in Markham or in York Region. That was the message behind a special media conference held by the city Tuesday morning. The conference was in response to a letter Markham-Unionville MP Bob Saroya sent to certain Markham councillors as well as to members of the Chinese media about needle injection sites. The letter also prompted the city to invite Saroya to a future council meeting to discuss the safe injection site process. The letter implied a safe injection site in Markham would be imminent. “This misinformation was repeated through conversations and through social media,” said Mayor Frank Scarpitti, who stood together with other members of council. “That letter, and the reporting by the media, has left many residents of Markham thinking that a safe injection site might be located in Markham. “That is simply not true.” Scarpitti went on to call Saroya’s letter and the lack of facts a fear-mongering tactic targeting Markham’s Chinese and Asian communities. “I’m upset and disappointed that (Saroya) is using Markham council and the Chinese community as a pawn to advance his political opinion,” Scarpitti said. “He is taking advantage of the language barrier and of those who don’t know the process.” In response to Scarpitti’s comments, Saroya called on the city to act on behalf of its residents and not on behalf of the current Liberal government. “The mayor should stop being a puppet of the Liberal ministers from Markham and start acting in the best interest of the residents of Markham, who are opposed to ‘safe’ injection sites opening in their community,” Saroya said
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There are no proposals and there’s no need for safe drug injection sites in Markham, Mayor Frank Scarpitti in an email to the Economist & Sun. “Markham council does not report to (Saroya),” Scarpitti said during the media conference. “Markham does not play politics when it comes to what’s best for Markham residents. We applaud when it’s good. And we stand up when we think it’s not good, no matter what political stripe.” The back-and-forth between Scarpitti and Saroya continued on social media following the conference. “Markham council approved a mobile ‘safe’ injection site,” Saroya tweeted. “What is to stop @FrankScarpitti from opening a bricks and
mortar location?” His tweet was accompanied by a photograph of the region’s LOFT Crosslinks Street Outreach Van, which is not a mobile safe injection site. According to York Region Public Health, the van provides support and supplies such as sleeping bags, blankets and other basic supplies to homeless people living on the street. The outreach van also serves as a mobile needle exchange site. In response, Scarpitti tweeted back “@BobSee page 2.
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