Our community is growing, not only in numbers but in the strengths of our voice and message that urgent change is needed. At no other time of the year is that more evident than during International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD).

This year we had more participation in more communities than ever before. Moms Stop The Harm (MSTH) members organized or participated in over fifty events across the country from Victoria to Saint John's NL. Our largest gatherings were in Victoria, where 300 people joined the event and in Edmonton, where our local Healing Hearts group organized a vigil with over 500 people in attendance. Most events were focused on remembrance, giving us a chance to grieve together, while our team in Victoria also organized a noisy protest in front of BC government buildings, with our co-founder Leslie McBain giving a powerful speech.

For several years now we have raised awareness of overdose, or more precisely the drug poisoning crisis by having civic and public buildings, as well as other structures lit in the IOAD colour purple. We have had Rogers Place arena lit in Vancouver, the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, Mosaic Stadium in Regina, and the CN Tower in Toronto, just to name a few. This year our advocates worked hard to add two more important symbols, namely the Samuel Champlain Bridge (the first time for a structure to be lit in Quebec) and then in a very meaningful way the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg.

Our allies with Overdose Awareness Manitoba (OAM), led by our Manitoba director Arlene Kolb, always look for new ways to bring home the message that our loved ones who died are not numbers, but people who are dearly missed in our lives. This year they started the Purple Chair for Overdose Awareness campaign and invited us to partner. So many of you participated and it was powerful and heartbreaking to see the images of purple chairs from across the country. Together with OAM, we shared the images on social media, regularly tagging the politicians, first among our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We even mailed a child sized chair to Carolyn Bennett, the federal Minister for Mental Health and Addictions. The purple chair campaign resonated across the country. Our advocates in Mission, BC, including our BC director Traci Letts who had their first IOAD event this year had an incredible display of 150 purple chairs!

In addition to the purple chairs, we continued to tie purple ribbons with photos of loved ones lost to trees, lampposts, fences and other structures. Our teams in Victoria and Vancouver placed ribbons in prominent places across the city, as did members in other communities from coast to coast. Once again we bought billboards with overdose awareness messages, including in some smaller communities across the country.

Any other organization would call this a successful event, but I hesitate to do so. How many people participated, painting chairs, tying ribbons, and sharing photos and heartfelt messages to me is a sign of the gowning number of us who live with the pain and grief of having lost a loved one, or worry about losing someone. It is als a sign of the ongoing government failure at all levels of government. The year my youngest son Danny died, in 2014, 128 Albertans lost their lives to toxic drugs, in 2021 over 1800 families joined the mourning. The same increase in death toll is seen across the country, with Indigenous communities disproportionally affected.

The theme for IOAD is “A time to remember, a time to act”. We remember each and every minute of every day, and we call on politicians to stop talking and finally to act. We don’t want your thoughts, prayers and tears, we want to see real change!

First and foremost we need a safe regulated supply to replace toxic street drugs for everyone. We need to stop criminalizing people who use drugs. We need to make sure that all Canadians have access to life-saving harm reduction services and evidence-based treatment. At the same time, we need to work to address the underlying issues, such as mental health, trauma, poverty, the lack of affordable and supportive housing, discrimination, and importantly the effects of colonization.

We have an opportunity to use the momentum gained during IOAD to get our name and our message out. Keep up the pressure. As parliament and provincial legislatures return from summer breaks that saw 21 Canadians die a preventable death every day politicians took off, they need to hear from all of us. It is over time when it comes to action. Be sure to let them know!

Petra Schulz, forever Danny’s mom, founding director and board chair.