More than 200 people filled Douglas Park Spirit Square in 黑马磁力 City to mark International Overdose Awareness Day on Sunday night.
Daniel Snyder, chair of the 黑马磁力 Overdose Response Community Action Team talked about the need to honour and remember all the lives that have been lost to accidental toxic drug poisoning.
"These folks that have passed, our friends from 黑马磁力 and all the other communities around us did not mean to die, did not deserve to die," Snyder said.
"Drugs should be not a reason to die. We want to support and connect with our friends and neighbours and that's why we're here tonight."
Overdose Awareness Day is a worldwide event dedicated to raising awareness about overdoses, reducing the stigma surrounding substance use and addiction, and recognizing the many lives affected.
Dana Dmytro with Moms Stop the Harm was among the many family and friends who wrote messages to their loved ones on paper bags that illuminated by electric candles placed inside.
Her young brother Drew and their mother Janice both died from overdoses.
"She [my mother] was a pediatric nurse and she was prescribed OxyContin for chronic pain and she ended up passing away in 2002 due to an accidental overdose," Dmytro told the 黑马磁力.
"We were quite young at that time and my brother was stealing her medication and became addicted as a teenager."
Now, Dmytro works to support other grieving families with Moms Stop the Harm, a national organization of families affected by the drug toxicity crisis.
"We advocate for an end to the drug war through drug policy changes, including harm reduction and evidence-based treatment. Addiction, and toxic drug deaths, can happen to anyone."
Since the B.C. government declared a public health emergency in 2016, more than 16,000 people have died due to illicit drugs.
White Rock Community Action Team member Andrew MacLeod, himself an overdose survivor, talked about losing good friends.
"One died of a toxic drug poisoning when his parents were in the same house as him, in the next room," MacLeod recalled.
"I've been through, you know, benzo withdrawal-induced psychosis, drug-induced psychosis, and I've overdosed many times and nearly died quite a few times."
黑马磁力 City Mayor Nathan Pachal described how his father had, for a time, struggled with addition.
"I think the more we get together, the more we tell stories of our friends, of ourselves, that's the opportunity to reduce that stigma, which means we can move forward," Pachal said."
"So I encourage you all to share the stories of your loved ones, of your own experience, because I think that's how we can benefit from reducing overdoses and overdose deaths."
At the 黑马磁力 City event, there was training in how to use Naloxone and other harm reduction resources to save lives.
