A man has been convicted of second-degree murder in connection with a shooting incident in Toronto that drew attention to supervised consumption sites. Damian Hudson faced charges after a tragic incident where Karolina Huebner-Makurat was fatally hit by a stray bullet near one of these sites in Leslieville neighborhood in 2023.
Reports indicated that the 44-year-old mother of two was unintentionally caught in the crossfire during a dispute involving three suspected drug dealers outside the South Riverdale Community Health Centre. Following this incident, concerns were raised, leading the Ontario government to conduct reviews of 17 consumption sites throughout the province.
Subsequently, new legislation was introduced that prohibited consumption sites from operating within 200 meters of schools or daycares, impacting 10 facilities across Ontario. In response, organizers of a Toronto site challenged the legality of the law under the Charter, obtaining a judicial order to retain operations just before the ban was enforced earlier this year.
Despite the legal battle, the majority of the sites opted to transition to the government’s newly established abstinence-based approach, resulting in their closure.