IHARC Calls on Cobourg to Declare a State of Emergency

Pete Fisher
4 weeks ago
• Categories: Local

The Integrated Homelessness & Addictions Response Centre (IHARC) is calling on the Mayor of Cobourg to declare a municipal state of emergency.

The need is clear: the crisis on our streets has become a crisis in our parks, our homes, and our public spaces.

This demands a decisive humanitarian response, one that protects children, supports our most vulnerable neighbours, and restores health and safety for all.

“A declaration like this cannot be just symbolic,” said Jordan Stevenson, Director of IHARC.

“It must be a commitment to act with the unity and speed this emergency requires. IHARC stands ready to align under Town leadership and lead a tailored Incident Management System (IMS) deployment that is designed for this crisis, here and now.”

A Thread Between Generations
The paraphernalia and traces of fentanyl found at the playground in Victoria Park are a significant alarm bell on just how bad this situation has devolved.

It also serves as a bleak picture of the past, present, and possible future.

This playground is more than slides and swings; it’s where yesterday’s children once laughed, where today’s children play, and where tomorrow’s children should feel safe.

Some of those children of yesterday are now struggling with addiction, and today’s children face a future at risk if nothing changes.

Finding fentanyl in this space is a clear reminder that this crisis spans every generation.

We don’t need another headline, but a promise: to protect the kids of tomorrow by reaching out with
real help to those already caught in a cycle of addiction and homelessness.

The Human Cost on the Frontlines
This crisis has driven frontline workers, outreach teams, paramedics, healthcare workers, police, bylaw
officers, and volunteers to exhaustion.

Burnout is everywhere, and we continue to lose valuable human
resources as a result.

Yet this is not the fault of any single agency or level of government.

The scale of this crisis is larger than any one tool: police cannot arrest our way out, bylaw cannot clear our way out, and health services cannot treat their way out in isolation.

The only path forward is a unified response.

A community-wide mobilization that delivers real solutions and helps the many people who desperately want stability and a chance to rebuild their lives.

By implementing swift action, we can allow agencies to focus on the edge cases.

For example, police have more time to focus on dealing with anyone who seeks to use this crisis as an opportunity to carry out criminal activity for personal gain and malice.

What a Declaration Unlocks
A municipal state of emergency declaration can:

· Establish a unified command that integrates municipal, health, and community partners.

· Enable rapid, humanitarian-scale responses with streamlined logistics, staffing, and site use.

· Support immediate stabilization and safe reception spaces that can transition people from crisis to care.

· Focus operations on both public safety and compassion, ensuring children are safe in playgrounds
while individuals struggling with addiction are met with real pathways to recovery.

Let us be perfectly clear. This is not a magic wand.

Mayor Cleavland cannot simply say “I declare a state of emergency,” and have all the issues simply vanish.

No one level of government or agency has the ability to solve this unilaterally.

Which is why any such declaration must be met with united action if it is to have any meaningful impact.

Moving Beyond More of the Same
“We cannot afford the status quo,” Stevenson said.

“This is the moment to move beyond talk and into action. A declaration must be the foundation of a rapid campaign of decisive steps—steps that defend lives, protect families, and bring hope back to this community.”

In January 2025, IHARC partnered with the Peterborough AIDS Resource Network (PARN) on a harm
reduction pilot designed to test whether traditional models could stabilize conditions locally.

Phase 1 followed the national approach with open access to supplies such as needles and pipes. The outcome was unacceptable: discarded paraphernalia increased, creating visible risks in public spaces and exposing the broader community to real danger.

Phase 2 changed course, limiting supplies to personal-use quantities and introducing accountability measures.

This reduced discarded items in the short term. But because other providers continued to distribute unlimited supplies, spikes soon returned, most notably in the last 14 days.

Thus proving that the standard harm reduction model, as practiced in Cobourg, only added to instability and public risk.

To continue as such would be akin to cut-and-dry enablement with no core benefit.

The evidence is clear. Harm reduction in its current form has not worked here.

This is not based on opinion, but reality.

The very people this is supposed to help are still dying. Families are still suffering, and public safety has been compromised beyond the pale.

The newly amalgamated Lakelands Public Health Unit has since begun reviewing its own harm reduction mandate, and PARN will no longer maintain outreach staff in Northumberland County as of October 31.

Additionally, IHARC has made the evidence-based decision to discontinue harm reduction services as we look towards ramping up solutions that will provide meaningful stability and support.

We stand behind following science, not opinions.

But that needs to work both ways, and when the data doesn’t translate to real-world results, it becomes opinion-based, not science.

A Mobilization of the Whole Community
It is now time to move forward with rapid and decisive action.

Within the next 24 hours, IHARC will launch a public dashboard to show real-time statistics on homelessness and addictions in Cobourg.

Alongside this, a citizen-led idea portal will open so that residents, businesses, service providers, and people with lived experience all have a voice in shaping the response.

We must ensure that any action taken serves the entire community, not just one demographic.

This mobilization must involve everyone and be guided by openness, accountability, and broad public input, ensuring the declaration of emergency leads to solutions that are humane, effective, and unifying.

Following this first step, IHARC will bring forward concrete recommendations on how a state of emergency can be used to meaningfully reduce the crisis and support individuals in finding stability.

We urge Mayor Cleveland to declare a state of emergency now and meet the entire community at the
table.

Only by bringing residents, service providers, and government together in one unified response
can we begin enacting truly effective solutions, protecting public safety while helping people move
toward stability.

About IHARC
IHARC is a non-profit in Northumberland County that supports people experiencing homelessness and
addiction through integrated, evidence-informed services and partnerships.