Hamilton residents share stories of loss, stigma and struggle on Overdose Awareness Day - Action News
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Hamilton

Hamilton residents share stories of loss, stigma and struggle on Overdose Awareness Day

On Friday, more than 20 organizations gathered in Hamilton's Gore Park for International Overdose Awareness Day. Last year, Hamilton had 148 opioid-related deaths, according to the city.

People gathered at Gore Park to speak out against closures of safer use spaces and share personal stories

A pink sign that reads
The fate of safe consumption sites were top-of-mind during the Overdose Awareness Day event on Friday. (Aura Carreo Rosas/CBC)

Nearly two years ago, Barbara Swietek's best friend and mentor died of an overdose.

On Friday,International Overdose Awareness Day, the memory of her friend,Rebecca Morris-Miller, feltfresh in Swietek'smind.

"She believed in me when I didn't believe in myself,"Swietekshared with those who gathered at Hamilton's Gore Park to mark the day.

"I miss her every single day."

Swietek is a peer-support crisis worker withthe Good Shepherd's Health on Wheels bus, a career her friend Morris-Miller encouraged her to follow.

A woman looks into the camera while standing in a park on a sunny day.
Barbara Swietek lost her best friend and mentor, Rebecca Morris-Miller, to an overdose in 2022. (Aura Carreo Rosas/CBC)

She was one of several speakers and performers whoshone a light onthe number ofoverdose deaths that occur in Hamilton every year.In 2023, Hamilton had 148 opioid-related deaths, according to the City of Hamilton.

The event also brought together many local organizations, such as the Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, the Good Shepherd, the National Overdose Response Service, and more.

Safe consumption siteclosures top of mind

Many of the speakers spoke about the recent move by the Ontario government to ban supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and child-care centres. The decision will force a change in services offered by theHamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre, which currently runs thesupervised injection site on James Street South.

"If you take away these spaces, people are going to start using alone," said Swietek.

"We're going to find people dead in alleys. We already know that there's been deaths inside Jackson Square washrooms If you take away these safer-use spaces, we're going to see more preventable deaths."

A man under a tent playing an instrument.
Sehawk, also known as Brandon Francis, middle, opened the event on Friday with a gratitude ritual and music. (Aura Carreo Rosas/CBC)

For Sehawk, also known as Brandon Francis, of the Mohawk and Ojibwaynations, the closure of the safe consumption sites is "sickening."

He said that having witnessed many overdoses in the past, with these closures, people who might be worried about overdosing might choose to consume drugs in public, where there would be a higher chance of someone helping in case of an emergency.

Sehawkspoke at the event and performedsongs, including an original, inspired by his journey of sobriety.

In his hardest days, he wished someone told him "I'm never alone, and that no matter what, they'll always be there," he said in an interview withCBC Hamilton.

Harms of stigma

Swietek recalledher own struggles with drug consumption,which she started while trying to escape the grief of losing her mother, with whom she had a tumultuous relationship.

After the loss, a friend, who was struggling with addiction, told Swietek, "Here Barb, try this, this is going to make everything go away,"Swieteksaid.

A handing t-shirt that reads
The Substance Overdose Prevention and Education Network was at the Hamilton event with naloxone kits and educational pamphlets. (Aura Carreo Rosas/CBC)

"[The drugs] did exactly what she said it was going to do...it numbed everything," she said.

"When I tried to stop using it, those feelings just came back stronger and stronger and stronger."

She reflected on the way stigma affects those struggling with addiction.

"When you call somebody a 'crackhead' or a 'methhead' or a 'junkie,' what are you doing that's improving their lives at all? Nothing," she said.

An open Naloxone kit.
Naloxone, which can be administered by nasal spray or injection, is used to treat overdoses of opioids such as fentanyl, heroin and morphine. (Aura Carreo Rosas/CBC)

Swietek's friend, Morris-Miller, was the founder of Grenfell Ministries, a non-profit organization that offers outreach programs in Hamilton, and the National Overdose Response Service, a a peer-run overdose prevention hotline.

"It's the stigma that prevented her from calling her own [help] line to save her own life," Swietektold CBC Hamilton."The stigma attached to this as a director of an organization."

She stressed the importance of realizing addiction can affect anyone.

"Overdose does not discriminate. It can happen to anybody, anytime, anywhere," she said.