OttawaPeople in Ottawa’s Chinatown say little has changed since a new safer supply clinic operator took over in June. Some are considering leaving the neighbourhood, and others already have.Little has changed since new safer supply clinic took over in June, neighbours sayMarissa Meilleur · CBC News · Posted: Nov 03, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesHangout Cafe owner James Taylor decided to move his business from Chinatown to Little Italy after problems he associates with a nearby safer supply clinic worsened. (Mathieu Deroy/CBC)James Taylor, owner of Hangout Cafe, felt he had no choice but to move his business out of Ottawa’s Chinatown neighbourhood amid the “absolute chaos and destruction” that he says a private addiction treatment centre brought to the community.Following new provincial rules that forced the closure of a nearby supervised consumption site, Northwood Recovery opened across the street from Taylor’s café in March.Taylor says his gross sales are down 35 per cent this year, showing a steady decline from the time of the clinic’s arrival until he moved his business to Little Italy in August.He says during that time people entered the café with weapons, and drug paraphernalia and human feces were often found outside.”I never knew if I was going to get a phone call saying, ‘Hey, we have somebody passed out in here,’ or, ‘Hey, we have somebody just robbed us,’ [or,] ‘Hey, I’ve locked myself in the bathroom because I feel really unsafe.'”‘Clouds of fentanyl smoke’Taylor says the problems only got worse after New Dawn Medical took over from Northwood Recovery in June.”[There were] more needles on the ground,” he said. “You got little kids walking through clouds of fentanyl smoke and meth smoke, and people around with literal needles hanging out of their arms.”Yukang Li, executive director of the Chinatown BIA, agrees that these problems have persisted.”This block has become an attraction point for people who use drugs,” he said.Li says the area has lost two or three businesses as a “direct response” to what’s been happening, and some of the businesses that have stayed have had to invest in security measures such as cameras and fences.Yukang Li, executive director of the Chinatown BIA, says open drug use and crime in the neighbourhood are driving away both businesses and visitors. (Mathieu Deroy/CBC)Li worries the vacant storefronts near New Dawn Medical will remain that way.”I don’t see a business that’s willing to take on this kind of challenge,” he said.He’s also concerned the rampant drug use and crime is driving away visitors.”When they find used needles, human waste on the sidewalks, would they feel comfortable coming again to Chinatown?”Residents on edgeUpper Lorne Place resident Thomas Cameron says the open sale of drugs procured at New Dawn Medical has also persisted.”Every single morning that you walk by, you see people go in and come out immediately and start trafficking those drugs,” he said.Upper Lorne Place resident Thomas Cameron says he reports incidents to police about three times a week, but could report daily. (Mathieu Deroy/CBC)Cameron says he often finds needles, pipes and feces in his driveway. A couple weeks ago, as he was getting his two-year-old daughter out of the car, he noticed a person standing behind him holding a bat.”I think that’s a powerful sense of the lack of safety that we feel,” he said. “You’re in a vulnerable position.”Cameron says he files police reports about three times a week, though he could report incidents daily. Spruce Street resident Dynimul Mao agrees that the problems have grown worse since the safer supply centres appeared.Spruce Street residents Nik Sydor, left, and Dynimul Mao, right, say their family feels unsafe and is considering moving. (Mathieu Deroy/CBC)Mao says she can no longer let her children, ages eight and 10, roam free in the neighbourhood, and says her family is considering moving.”The kids are scared,” she said.Mao’s husband Nik Sydor blames the privately operated New Dawn Medical and its predecessor.”There’s nothing holding these establishments accountable for the negative impacts that they’re having on the community,” he said.New Dawn defends its practicesCatherine McKenney, the MPP for Ottawa Centre, says they hear from residents almost daily about concerns related to New Dawn Medical.”It’s the same clinic with the same operating model [as Northwood],” McKenney said.McKenney said they’d like to see changes in the types of drugs being prescribed — giving patients injectable opioids on-site instead of pills that they can carry away and sell, for example.In a statement to CBC, New Dawn Medical noted that it co-operates with law enforcement, has video surveillance and employs a security guard.It said a significant portion of the drugs it administers are consumed on-site, and added patients undergo regular testing to ensure they’re taking the drugs they’ve been prescribed. If a patient does not take their medications as prescribed, the clinic says they may be suspended from the program. ABOUT THE AUTHORMarissa Meilleur is a reporter for CBC Yukon in Whitehorse. She is a member of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and she is studying journalism and political science at Carleton University.
‘Chaos and destruction’: Chinatown businesses, residents say drug problems persist
