Community members gathered outside Powell River City Hall on Friday, August 29, to raise a purple flag in honour of International Overdose Awareness Day, which takes place on August 31.
The event was organized by the qathet Community Action Team (qCAT), with support from Lift Community Services.
Purple t-shirts, designed by youth Community Action Team (yCAT) representative Naomi Harrison, were handed out, with a message on the front: Every toxic drug death is an avoidable tragedy.
Harrison said her brother Anton died alone in his room from fentanyl poisoning.
"My brother's death could have easily been prevented," said Harrision at the flag raising. "My brother, like many others, never got the option to go into treatment, because he died before he could have a chance.
“I find a lot of politicians right now are focusing a lot on treatment, and that pisses me off. Treatment is great, but I think that if you believe in funding treatment, you also have to fund resources like overdose prevention sites, drug checking, naloxone training, opioid antagonist therapy and the safer drug supply. Because otherwise, if you don't fund those things, there will be no one left to go into treatment."
According to the provincial government, from 2019 to 2023, a total of 10,005 unregulated drug toxicity deaths were reported to the BC Coroners Service. Of those, 126 deaths involved youth under the age of 19 years old.
At the flag raising event, Powell River mayor Ron Woznow said as founder of the New Brunswick drug analysis service and board member of the Fredericton drug crisis centre, he has seen quite a change in the drug world in Canada.
"I'd like to also briefly talk about the Powell River Compassionate Friends," said Woznow. "This group provides support to parents and families after the loss of their child."
qCAT facilitator Jessica Colasanto said there are 19 community action teams across the province; she believes the team in qathet is one of the most revered and active.
"For those who don't know, qCAT has been serving this community for many years and is made up of representatives from Vancouver Coastal Health, Tla’amin Health, first responders, local government elected officials, the nonprofit sector, local business, and people with lived and living experience of substance use," added Colasanto.
She said qCAT's goal is to provide focused, action-oriented strategies tailored to local communities, substance needs and substance use needs.
"I have been, naturally, reflecting on International Overdose Awareness Day all month," said Colasanto. “It takes me to gratitude for the place that I live, gratitude for the people with whom I live on these beautiful lands of the Tla'amin Nation."
She said the irony of International Overdose Awareness Day is that the people who gathered for the flag raising are very aware.
"Most of us here are frontline workers, family members, loved ones, maybe some community members who just wanted to come and show some empathy and support," said Colasanto. "We are the ones who are aware, and here we are showing up and doing the work again. I appreciate that you did come out today to do this, and I am hoping that together, we find some comfort for the next 20 minutes as we're here together, maybe all week, as we see this beautiful flag flying, that we find some comfort in our community."
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