Mother searches for answers after public health says unsterile needles used at Ontario clinic

Christine Lavalle feels like she’s trapped in a nightmare.

She found out on social media last week that her child might have been exposed to blood-borne infections at a Burlington walk-in clinic after public health identified the use of unsterile needles over the span of more than six years.

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“How did this happen?” she said.

That’s the question plaguing some patients who visited Halton Family Health Centre Walk-in Clinic between Jan. 1, 2019 and July 17, 2025, and learned on Wednesday that if they received local anesthesia, they could have been