“My brother, on Dec. 14, passed away. He was one of two men in Richmond on that day. And just like many other men, he died while playing PlayStation in his bedroom,” said Trevor Tablotney.
Tablotney was one of the many Richmond residents and local politicians who gathered outside the Richmond Cultural Centre on Friday morning to commemorate all the lives lost to the toxic drug crisis and demand action.
A total of 2,272 purple flags were placed on the field to acknowledge the number of overdose deaths in B.C. last year. April 14, 2023 marks the seventh anniversary since the B.C. government declared the overdose and drug poisoning crisis a public health emergency.
“This is not a crisis that’s only felt in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, it’s being felt in Richmond, with 28 deaths last year alone, and across the province and across Canada,” organizer Debbie Tablotney told attendees.
“These people had families and friends that loved them, and they did not deserve to die.”
Tablotney lost her son Curtis to a drug poisoning last December. Many other community members joined her, carrying photos of their loved ones who suffered the same fate.
Agnes Thompson was one of them. She knew Tablotney’s three sons when they attended a preschool she worked at, and she also lost her eldest grandson, Tristan Coatta, in 2021. Coatta was a photographer.
“There’s a lot of pain that goes with these losses… Each year we have a huge population that’s been impacted by (the overdose and toxic drugs crisis) and yet we still keep adding to that number,” she said.
Thompson echoed Tablotney’s sentiments and said the statistics don’t just relate to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
“It’s people who are working members of society, as my grandson was, who are dying.”
To break down the stigma, Richmond South-Centre MLA Henry Yao hopes Richmond residents from all cultural groups can work together.
“Let’s find ways, especially in Richmond, (breaking) down language, cultural barriers, to help break that stigma so people who need to reach out are able to reach out… and not be ashamed,” said Yao as he addressed attendees.
More needs to be done
Diane Forch, who lost her son Matthew in 2017, also attended the gathering to help bring awareness to the issue. She told the Richmond News that seeing the flags erected across the field was an “overwhelming” experience.
“You hear about it every day, but when you see the flags… it’s a lot of people. I mean, personally, we know several families that have lost loved ones,” said Forch, who is calling for a safe drug supply.
“Addiction is hard. It’s hard to fight. I know my son struggled for years, and he had been clean, drug-free, for 18 months. And then he went out one night and (he took) toxic supply and he died."
Representatives from organizations such as Moms Stop The Harm, Richmond Addiction Services Society and the Richmond Drop-In Centre also attended the rally to provide information about their services.
Aurora Tilston, an outreach worker from the Drop-In Centre operated by Turning Point Recovery Society, told the News that some of the flags on the field represented clients she had known for “a couple of years.”
“(The flags are) a reminder of the reality that we face and the work that we do, and just the amount of work that’s still left to be done in our community.”
