A demonstration in downtown Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»aims to raise awareness about the scale of the overdose crisis in British Columbia.
Ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day on Aug. 31, a group called Moms Stop the Harm will meet outside of the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Art Gallery on Friday (Aug. 25) at 7 p.m. for a candlelit vigil.
Called the "Candlelight and Coffin Walk," the event will convey how many lives have been lost to a poisoned drug in B.C. over the past few years.
Debra Bailey, one of the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»leaders of Moms Stop the Harm, says she lost her daughter, Ola Bailey, right before the Christmas of 2015.
"We knew what killed her was an overdose involving fentanyl," she tells Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³». "And yet people are still dying from fentanyl."
While she wouldn't have been thrilled to have her daughter on a safe heroin program, Bailey says it would have provided her with an opportunity to get healthy — and that could have saved her life.
Moms Stop the Harm will bring eight coffins to the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»event Friday. The coffins will display the number of overdose deaths each year between 2015 to 2022.
The group members and their supporters plan to carry the coffins down Robson Street. They will also carry tea light candles and provide them to people who join the sombre demonstration.
As they march down the street, they will also read out the names of individuals who have lost their lives to drug overdoses.
"We need a safe supply," says Bailey.
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