Necropolitics of the North: A rapid ethnography examining the effects of the closure of one of Northern Ontario’s only supervised consumption sites

Background

People who use drugs (PWUD) in Northern, rural, and smaller urban Canadian communities are disproportionately affected by drug-related harms and face barriers such as limited resources and heightened stigma. Supervised consumption sites (SCS) are intended to address individual and community harms. In 2024, the only SCS in Sudbury, a small city in Northern Ontario, Canada, closed due to a lack of provincial funding. In this paper, we explore the impact of this closure on PWUD.

Methods

We conducted a community-based rapid ethnography inclusive of naturalistic observations and qualitative semi-structured interviews (n = 27). Data were analyzed thematically using a participatory analytic approach and analysis was informed by theories of necropolitics and structural violence.

Results

Following the closure of the SCS site, participants perceived a reduction in access to harm reduction services, as well as negative impacts on personal well-being. Participants reported that the SCS’s closure forced local PWUD to begin unsafe consumption practices, resulting in increased overdose risk, physical health issues, and social stigma. The closure negatively affected safety, social connectedness, availability, and ease of access to harm reduction supplies.

Conclusions

The SCS closure has exacerbated already limited support for PWUD in Sudbury and increased their exposure to a variety of risks and harms. Necropolitics of the state deem PWUD as unworthy of living, resulting in structural violence and the creation of death worlds for PWUD.