BURSTLost loved ones were remembered and renewed calls for action were made as International Overdose Awareness Day was marked Aug. 31, 2026 in George Little Park.
Many of those in attendance were wearing white t-shirts with slogans focused on 19,000 overdose deaths since a health crisis was declared 10 years ago.
Hosted by the Together We Can Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society and the Northern First Nations Alliance, a full range of speakers provided personal and professional insight.
Northern First Nations Alliance executive director Manon Joice welcomed those in attendance, saying that while Aug. 31 was a sombre day of remembrance, it was an opportunity “to turn pain into purpose and move forward.”
She noted that the area has seen some recent increases in services such as the 12-bed recovery home being operated by Red Road Recovery through the alliance. It’s located east of Terrace on the grounds of a former fishing lodge.
Joice also noted the efforts of Together We Can workers.
“But most important we have you,” she said to those assembled.
Clarence Grant, a 20-year veteran of social services work on the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, said many of the residents of that area are Indigenous.
Nisga’a himself, Grant said he grew up on the Lower Mainland denying his Indigenous heritage, preferring to describe himself as a Mexican so he could fit in.
“I learned a lot of bad words in Spanish,” he said.
Grant framed the overdose rate among Indigenous people as a result of colonialism and the loss of identity through residential schools and other methods.
Based on his Downtown East Side Work, he said the overdose crisis is not one of substances.
“It’s about trauma. When people don’t know how to share that shame, they turn to substances,” Grant said.
Grant also described the victims of overdose deaths as a missing generation, leaving very young people at one end of the age spectrum and very old people on the other.
He supported places where people can take drugs in a safe fashion.
“They need to know if they fall, someone would be there to help them,” Grant said.
The Terrace Public Library, Coast Mountain College, the local Foundry youth wellness centre, Red Road Recovery and Northern Health which promoted its Terrace-based drug checking service were among local agencies and groups who set up tables.
A barbecue lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs and associated foods was provided by the NorthSide Crazy Indians Brotherhood of Terrace.
The group Puddy Waters provided music. A traditional welcome came from members of the Kitselas First Nation.