REGINA -- Eight Regina city buses will display the faces of mothers whose loved ones died from drug overdoses.
Advocacy group Moms Stop the Harm met outside the mâmawêyatitân centre in Regina on Monday to display the new posters and spread awareness about the growing number of drug overdose deaths in Saskatchewan.
“We have been advocating with the provincial government for two years or longer to no avail. So, this is to really create awareness and really to honour our children,” said Moms Stop the Harm advocate Jenny Churchill.
“Every mother in that picture has lost a child,” she said.
Churchill contacted City Coun. Jerry Flegel to help get the campaign set up. An anonymous donor paid for all the production costs of the ads.
“We worked on a few different things and I found some people that could help her out. We went to bat and got all this done,” Flegel said.
Purple ribbons were tied to the Albert Street Bridge on Monday to remember those who have died from an overdose. Free Naloxone training was also offered during the event.
Churchill said her son may have lived through his overdose if he had a naloxone kit and if the person around him knew the signs of an overdose.
“We still continue to push with the government on the restrictive naloxone distribution… there’s five sites in Regina, but they’re not open on the evenings and they’re not open on the weekends,” Churchill said.
Churchill said she keeps her phone line open and uses an anonymous supplier of Narcan in case an emergency happens when the sites aren’t open.
“When someone calls us on a Saturday evening or a weekend and says they need Narcan, we take it to them,” Churchill said.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray, who spoke during the awareness event, said 705 overdoses have been reported in the city in 2020, and 60 people have died.
He said thanks to the efforts of Churchill to get more officers carrying safety kits, police officers have managed to save 44 people experiencing an overdose this year.
Last week the Saskatchewan Coroners report revealed 179 overdose deaths in the province so far in 2020.
Megan Poole, who survived from an overdose, said it’s important people come together to help fight the crisis.
She said she wants governments to work with local addictions centres.
“You have to wake up every day and fight, but we need to band together and we need to fight this thing together and come together as a community and that comes with every aspect,” she said.
The ministry of health said it supports the advocacy being done on International Overdose Awareness Day.
“Investing in mental health and addictions services is a priority for the Government of Saskatchewan. In the 2020-21 provincial budget, the Ministry of Health committed record funding of $435 million for mental health and addictions services," the ministry said in an email.
The ministry said it invested in a new addictions treatment centre in Estevan, and boosted funding for Harm reduction services, along with $500,000 to support initiatives like improved access to take home naloxone.
