Community members gathered at Vancouver Island University to solemnly grieve loved ones lost, as calenders mark the ninth anniversary since B.C. declared a public health emergency on the toxic drug crisis.
The grief fire was organized by the VIU Harm Reduction Alliance and held at the university's Nanaimo campus on Monday, April 14. Those who attended wrote a name or message on a paper heart, then ignited it. A display of purple hearts, each symbolizing a different life lost to the crisis, decorated the grass behind the fire.
Sarah Lovegrove, VIU nursing professor, spoke ahead of the burning, stating that it's not just people who visibly use substances who are impacted, but those behind closed doors as well.
"Today we're here to grieve, we're here to focus on the humanity behind the toxic drug crisis, we're here to focus on the fact we're losing humans, we're losing parents, losing children, losing students," Lovegrove said. "I have students who have lost family members in every single one of my classes, students who are at risk of dying every single day."
One of the attendees, Qui Sepulveda, a student and a member of the VIU Harm Reduction Alliance, said they lost seven loved ones since the toxic drug crisis began.
"It's hard to look at the hearts and the stats and the data, but these are also people, and they're people that we knew – they're people that I knew," Sepulveda said. "They're people I wish could be here, because if they were they might actually know what to say, unlike me. They're the people who were good at doing this – not me."
Alongside the ceremony, naloxone training and kits were provided. As well, brochures were provided detailing the issue and suggestions such as having non-judgmental conversations to help break down stigma, being prepared to help by carrying naloxone, advocating for policies that prioritize health and harm reduction, and supporting local efforts to make services more accessible.
Following the ceremony, Lovegrove told the News Bulletin that at the heart of the toxic drug crisis is the unregulated supply of illicit drugs becoming increasingly toxic and adulterated with a variety of volatile substances of unknown potency.
"People have the opportunity to create change in all aspects of life," she said. "Advocacy and activism doesn't have to be protesting outside or even involve politics at all, but people can become educated on this topic, they can read, they can listen, they can learn from people with lived experience, they can contact their local representatives and advocate for change."
