Paramedics in Thunder Bay, Ontario, responded to 262 suspected opioid poisoning calls between January and May 2026, a 20 percent jump from 218 calls during the same months in 2025.
The increase comes as the city’s street drug supply grows more dangerous. More than 70 percent of drugs recently tested in Thunder Bay contained medetomidine, a veterinary tranquilizer never approved for use in humans. NorWest Community Health Centres has issued 10 drug alerts since April 2026 warning about highly toxic substances found through its mobile drug-checking services.
Thunder Bay continues to have the highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario. The city’s rate of 52.72 deaths per 100,000 people is more than five times the provincial average of 8.96. Between 2020 and 2024, 429 people died from opioid poisonings in Thunder Bay, including 82 deaths in 2024 alone.
The rise in paramedic calls follows the March 2025 closure of Path 525, the only supervised consumption site in northern Ontario. The site, operated by NorWest Community Health Centres, shut down after provincial legislation banned such facilities within 200 metres of schools and daycares. It has since transitioned into a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub that does not allow on-site drug use, safer supply programs, or needle exchanges.
In February 2026, Health Canada provided an additional $412,500 to Thunder Bay’s mobile harm-reduction project, bringing total funding to $650,460. The money supports outreach for people experiencing homelessness and those at risk during the ongoing drug crisis.
The Ontario government is spending $560 million to build 29 HART Hubs across the province, replacing supervised consumption sites with a model focused on abstinence-based treatment and recovery.
