Out of Harm’s Way: Insight, Innovation and Action on the Toxic Drug Crisis
From left to right: harm reduction and recovery advocate Guy Felicella, former BC chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, DJ Larkin of Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Lacey Jones of FNHA, Leslie McBain of Moms Stop the Harm, former provincial health officer Dr Perry Kendall
Our final event in our speaker series on the toxic drug crisis will be March 26 at 1 p.m. in First Metropolitan Church. You won’t want to miss it!
Opening with a keynote from advocate and story-teller Sekani Dalketh, this final event will feature a dialogue among past and present substance users in a conversation led by harm reduction and recovery advocate Guy Felicella. Don’t miss this opportunity to sit in on what promises to be an enlightening conversation grounded in resilience, persistence and diversity as participants share their personal experiences of recovery and wellness – and their insights into how BC’s challenged and patchwork substance-use supports helped and hindered them on that journey.
We’re especially excited to have one of BC’s longest-standing advocates for harm reduction as our closing keynote. Ann Livingston was a co-founder of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users — VANDU — and her advocacy alongside Dean Wilson was vital in the runup to the creation of Canada’s first safer injection site in 2003, in Vancouver. Come learn about her latest work organizing drug users in Nanaimo.
The first event in our series on BC’s toxic drug crisis took place Jan. 29 in front of an audience of more than 200 people. Our second event was Feb. 26, and featured local service providers talking about the bright spots, challenges and hopes for further action on the toxic drug crisis, and a dynamite panel on evidence and why we don’t follow it when it comes to this complex and politicized issue. (Full video of the Feb. 26 event is now up on the Peers YouTube channel.)
The panel in the photo above, featuring some of BC’s longest standing advocates and activists on this issue, brought valuable context and history to the crisis at our opening event Jan. 29, which has killed more than 21,000 people since the Government of BC declared a state of emergency in 2016.
All events are at First Metropolitan Church sanctuary at the corner of Quadra and Balmoral streets, and are free and open to the public.
Please join us for these important conversations!
News release — Out of Harms Way, March 26
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Information on previous events in the series:
News release Feb 26 Peers Victoria speaker series
Full video recording of Feb. 26 event
Full video recording of Jan. 29 event
Victoria News story on Jan. 29 event
News Release — Out of Harm’s Way speaker series — Jan. 29
Thank you to the First Nations Health Authority for the development of this graphic, All Paths Lead to Wellness. First Nations people make up 3.4 per cent of the BC population, but 17.8 per cent of its toxic drug deaths.
Fact sheet on toxic drug crisis
Loved Ones Lost — video of images of some 300 people who have died in BC’s toxic drug crisis, shared with permission of Moms Stop the Harm
Unregulated Drug Poisoning Emergency Dashboard (BC Centre for Disease Control)
