This city's mayor issued a statement tonight responding to the Vice Media/W5 documentary Steel Town Down, which delved into Sault Ste. Marie's opioid overdose problem.
In a statement on his mayoral blog, the link to which was promoted as a paid ad on Facebook, Christian Provenzano says that while Sault Ste. Marie is a “beautiful, caring and engaging city” he acknowledges “substance abuse and the opioid epidemic are real and they are here.”
The documentary, which included interviews with healthcare workers and addicts themselves — including footage of Saultites doing drugs — aired Saturday and is now available online from both CTV and Vice.
The documentary was meant to highlight how the deadly fentanyl and opioid epidemic has spread to small communities like Sault Ste. Marie and says between 40 and 50 people overdose in the city every month.
Provenzano says there is a "critical gap in services" available here and points to efforts already underway by Sault Area Hospital to secure more funding to help address addiction problems in the Sault, and says the city is "working to get (those who are addicted) the support they need."
The mayor calls reaction to the documentary “mixed” and says many who have contacted him were bothered by the way the city was portrayed.
“We have to recognize that what we saw in the documentary is real and that it is happening here,” Provenzano writes. “We have to recognize that people are struggling, that families are in turn struggling and that people are dying. This community, the one that is struggling with substance abuse issues, exists alongside and within our larger community.”