Hope Lompe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder, Gabriola Sounder

Hope Lompe

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

An early morning power outage affecting 1,117 customers on the south end of Gabriola Island and Mudge Island didn’t stop the organizers of the Ask Anything event on Sept. 27. 

False candles adorned the stage of the dark Gabriola Theatre Centre as people took their seats to listen and ask questions from a panel of community survivors of addiction, and newly minted Chief Medical officer for Central Vancouver Island, Dr. Tribesty Ngyuen. 

The Gabriola Health and Wellbeing Collaborative (GHWC) organized the event as a wrap-up to their collaborative Building Hope series with the Gabriola Sounder. *

“I think it was enormously successful. I think we heard some real, hard truths from people who lived through the toxic drug crisis, people who’ve lost people, but it was their reflections on what made a difference for them that really stuck with me, and it tells me a lot about what we as a community can do to help them,” said Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley, vice president of the Gabriola Health Care Foundation. 

Six articles in the eight-part series were published over the summer, which told the stories of Gabriolan’s journey through addiction and recovery as the toxic drug poisoning public health emergency extends into its ninth year. 

The first of the final two installments, which will outline next steps for what Gabriolans can do in their community, is available to read now, and the final installment is set to be out later this fall. 

Sang Brown with the Poison Drug Action Table had an information and resources table set up at the back of the Theater. Sang shared her story in the fourth installment of the Building Hope series which can be found here: https://soundernews.com/two-accounts-about-being-in-recovery-from-addiction/

She hopes the community can keep the conversation going even after the series is wrapped up. 

“It would be awesome to further the conversation and get feedback on that,” says Brown “If we could find a way to keep the conversation going and get feedback on how people were affected by it, what their idea of harm reduction is, and if they learned anything new.” 

Moderator Janet Vinet, Oceanside Regional Coordinator of the Health and Wellness Network with United Way, along with Dunsmore-Farley and Snuneymuxw First Nation Elder Geraldine C’tasi:a Manson, gave opening remarks. Vinet provided short bios of each of the panelists before the microphones were turned over to the panel. In turn they each openly shared their story in their own words. 

Shannon Whitham, Central Island Regional Harm Reduction Coordinator with Islands Health and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control was invited to be part of the panel in her professional capacity, but surprised herself by feeling emboldened in the environment to share her own story of drug use and addiction. 

“It’s always hard talking about our own personal experiences, because addiction is so stigmatized and it’s such a challenging, emotional, all encompassing experience,” says Whitham. “But it’s important to challenge stigma, so I don’t mind sharing my story if it helps break down some of those barriers for other people.” 

Whitham was brought up in the music scene, drugs were just part of the culture, and says it was fun, until it wasn’t. 

She now works with Islands Health and the B.C. Centre for Disease Control as an expert on this topic, and worked hard to get this job in a field she is personally connected to. 

Indigenous panelist, Lorelei James struggled with alcohol addiction and navigating an abusive relationship as a young mother. Growing up, she was raised by parents who frequently partied and drank. Years later, Lorelei’s mother recovered and began working in recovery outreach, and helped her daughter into recovery. 

James emotionally recounted how her mother helped her into recovery, and pointed to her sitting in the audience. Looking on at her daughter on stage, James’ mother listened as she recounted her road to recovery and learning self-love. 

“I ended up drinking throughout my whole life, over 35 years, I finally started to get help, and I went to treatment four times. My mom worked in a treatment center for alcohol and drugs …she introduced us to tools to get help from the trauma of alcoholism. My drinking caused me to do self harm, suicide, low self esteem. And also affected intergenerational trauma onto my kids,” shared James.

“I started to learn self compassion and self worth. I stopped my drinking and started to feel better about myself. My hopes and dreams would be for people who are getting poisoned by alcohol and drugs, to first get a home for personal safety and comfort and to get counsel or help from the trauma they have experienced and are still experiencing.”

Musician Gabriolan Ben Sams also sat on the panel. Sams said he grew up as an only child in a “normal” household with loving parents, yet alcohol and drugs found him at the tender age of 11 years old. Over time, he knew no other way of living without drugs, which had become a source of comfort in loneliness. “I knew that I felt different. I felt really different, and I felt like I didn’t get other kids. I’m an only child so socially inept most of the time, and drugs were like a friend that I could trust. I could count on it,” said Sams. 

Sams says he had to face that he was the problem. When that finally clicked, it kickstarted a genuine path to recovery after 12 years of trying. Now Sams is six years without drug use and sponsors people on their own path to recovery. 

The final panel member was Indigenous youth worker, Qui Sepulveda (they/them) who found themselves using as a teenager, and finding recovery in baby steps starting with safe supply sites. 

They said drugs became as necessary as air, going without felt akin to drowning. The steps toward recovery would not have been possible for them without these services. It started with a decision to stop putting themselves at risk of harm, not a decision to stop using. 

Sepulveda has now gone two years without using, and is now a youth worker for the organization they say saved their life. 

“To get to do the kind of work that saved my life means a lot, and is one of the reasons that I get to stay sober in recovery, because I always have people that have my back and place to go that understands me and sees me and again,” says Sepulveda. 

Before I had all that, I was – am very young, and I was born into the toxic drug crisis, so before I had even dropped out of high school, because I didn’t graduate, I had already lost five friends. We didn’t know that drugs were poisonous. We didn’t understand we were young and uninformed, and that hasn’t changed over the years, it’s only gotten worse.” 

The panel fielded a mix of questions from the audience, some of whom spoke from the perspective of a family member trying to better understand and support their loved one through addiction.  

The consensus from across the panel: addiction is a disease you cannot recover from prematurely. They have to be ready to do the work and receive help. 

“People need to come to those decisions on their own. Like, we can’t take away their agency, and they shouldn’t be sentenced to death for choosing to still use,” said Whitham. 

Following a short intermission, Dr. Nguyen took the stage for a data presentation on the toxic drug crisis in the region. While few data sets are publicly available for Gabriola Island given privacy laws, Dr. Nguyen was able to provide context and shed light on what Island Health is seeing with the toxic drug crisis in the region. 

Notably, the Nanaimo Regional District is disproportionately effected by the toxic drug poisoning crisis compared to the rest of Island Health, something he says is unclear why. 

On Gabriola, BCEHS calls to overdose saw the highest number of calls to date in 2024 at 31. While Dr. Nguyen says this does not equate to deaths, but does point to a prevalent issue.

He outlined his four things that could help solve the crisis: regulation, harm reduction, treatment, and prevention methods that use the best available science and data at the forefront of policy-making. Naloxone training will be taking place at the fire hall on Oct. 16. 

*The Building Hope series starts with Part 1 at https://soundernews.com/poisoned-drugs-are-on-gabriola-can-a-compassionate-community-help-address-the-crisis/

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