This week the OAN and its Members called on the Province of Ontario to extend the pandemic pay program to cover staff in AIDS service organizations (ASO) who deliver essential front-line harm reduction services. All through this pandemic ASO staff have worked on the frontlines to prevent overdoses, help people reduce the harms associated with substance use and connect those at risk to COVID-19 related supports. We believe that harm reduction workers’ exclusion and ineligibility is arbitrary and deeply inequitable. We thank these workers for their contributions and commitment to the health of some of the most vulnerable people in our province. Their efforts should be recognized by our government.

Join us in calling on the Ministry of Health and the Treasury Board to expand the program.