A few hundred people gathered at Place Émilie-Gamelin in downtown Montreal on Tuesday to commemorate and remember those who have died from opioid overdoses.
Advocates who took part in the event are trying to spread awareness and educate the public on the effects and dangers of opioid use.
“We are in the middle of a federal election and nobody has proposed any measures that are sound to address the crisis,” said Jean-François Mary, the director at Cactus Montreal, an organization that provides help for drug users, sex workers and trans people.
“We need a systemic change,” he added.
There is an ongoing opioid epidemic in Canada and it seems it’s getting worse.
In the last year alone, overdose deaths in Montreal have more than doubled from 28 in 2019 to 64 in 2020, according to Montreal police.
Advocates say while there are many factors that have likely contributed to the increase in overdose deaths, including underlying health issues made worse by the pandemic, lockdowns and curfews, nobody deserves to die from their drug use.
“They choose to alleviate the burden of everyday life,” said Mary. “They choose to party at night, they choose to relieve their mental health for a certain amount of time and they die because of it.”
Isabelle Fortin’s daughter passed away alone in her Ottawa U dorm room when she was just 24 years old. Fortin says society needs to change the way it thinks about drug users.
“We need regulation, we need safe supply, we need to end the stigma related to drug use,” Fortin said.
“We need to decriminalize drugs so people who are using are not considered as criminals but people who have health issues.”
Charlene Vacon agrees. Her son Archie passed away in a Montreal bar two years ago after he ingested drugs laced with fentanyl. He was 19 years old and was about to begin university at Concordia.
She says she has seen a shift in the way people view drug users and a lot more education surrounding drug use, but there is a long way to go.
“I need to advocate for systemic change that is actually going to make a difference and save someone else’s son,” she said.
As of January 2021, Montreal police carry naloxone kits, something they didn’t have when her son overdosed. She says it’s a good start but it’s just one of many things that still needs to be done.
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