An Oshawa memorial that honoured lives lost to drug overdoses, the opioid crisis and a number of other factors has been torn down by the city.
Community members reported seeing city staff dismantling the site early Thursday morning.
The John Street memorial was made up of stones, religious crucifixes and a makeshift wall that listed 167 people who had lost their lives.
“It’s not right, it’s not fair,” said Brandy Labrecque, whose 17-year-old son’s father was on the list.
“Some of those people didn’t have families. All they had was a name on a board, and they took that from us. They took that from them.”
Mike Saulnier, Oshawa’s director of operations, says the memorial was set up on city lands and had been infringing municipal bylaws.
“We react on a complaint, so essentially if the complaint is legitimate, and there’s a bylaw covering it, it’s my staff’s responsibility to remove it,” Saulnier said.
“This is not a council or a mayor decision — strictly an operations decision based on safety protocols.”
Saulnier also told Global News the contents of the memorial were disposed in accordance with city protocols. He adds that community consultation is not necessary prior to making these decisions.
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“This was a tough one because normally someone would get fined or notified and we (didn’t) know who to reach out to,” he said.
“(Community members) say the city of Oshawa is not sympathetic to people’s needs. For us, we get it, but unfortunately there are proper protocols that have to be followed, there are agreements that have to be in place and I don’t have the authority to say, ‘Hey, I can leave this one.’
“So, I’m consistent throughout the city and I remove them all.”
Community advocate Christeen Thornton says the memorial was set up approximately two years ago after a previous memorial under the John Street bridge was also removed by the city.
“I’m absolutely upset. I’m extremely disappointed. The city knows how to get in contact with all of us. DIAR, our organization, it’s been around the block for about four years.”
Thornton says she knew several of the victims who were honoured at the most recently struck-down memorial.
“I lost my best friend in October of 2020. His name was Jonathan Castillo,” she said.
“He was a really important person in my life and he was also a street-engaged person. When he passed away, I made some drawing of him and I had actually taken one of them and I laid it here,” she said, pointing to where the memorial used to be.
Others are also saddened and upset by the city’s actions.
“Nobody has a chance to find rocks that were painted with people’s name on it, picture frames, many things that were left here that people could have collected had they known that this was being taken down,” said Mike Mutimer, who lives near the site.
“There isn’t somewhere where people can go and pay respects to those who lost their lives.”
Saulnier says the city has a memorial tree and bench program for those who wish to honour loved ones.
When asked if she would consider these using programs in the future, Thornton said, “that’s a lovely gesture, but I wonder how much it would cost to install that many trees.”
“I can speak to the fact that I myself am a person on social assistance. I’m a part of this community as well as an advocate of this community, and I certainly couldn’t afford one of (the city’s) trees or a bench.”