Tues Sept 3: City of Owen Sound's Opioid Awareness Campaign Rings Hollow

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Shot from the International Overdose Awareness Day Sunrise Ceremony at the Reconciliation Garden, Kelso Beach at Nawash Park. Photo by Francesca Dobbyn.

International Opioid Awareness Day has passed, and with it, another missed opportunity for Owen Sound’s leadership to drive or even participate in any sort of constructive conversation about the crisis's impact on our town.

The City published a media release at 4:33 p.m. on Friday, August 30, announcing its plan to light up City Hall for its IOAD awareness campaign the next day.

A prepared quote attributed to Mayor Ian Boddy states, "This International Overdose Awareness Day, our thoughts are with everyone in our community and beyond who has been affected by drug overdose. By illuminating Owen Sound City Hall with purple lights, we want to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and show our support for this important issue.”

They’re nice words, though there’s not much anyone could be expected to do with this information less than 24 hours ahead over a long weekend.

The City’s media release further explains, “International Overdose Awareness Day is a campaign for communities around the world to come together to remember without shame those lost to overdose, acknowledge the grief of loved ones left behind, reduce the stigma of drug-related deaths, and try to find ways to reduce the incidence and impacts of overdose. It is about taking action to save lives.”

How were those purple lights meant to bring our community together? Under whose leadership and guidance?

Nine people have died of drug overdose in the City of Owen Sound so far this year, with another 76 non-fatal overdoses recorded.

(Source: Grey Bruce Public Health, current to August 28, 2024.)

Many people and organizations are working tirelessly in our city to combat stigma, prevent drug-related deaths, and find ways to reduce the impacts of overdose, alongside the interconnected issues of food security, housing affordability, mental health, and addiction support.

But the last we heard from our Mayor and Council, before their summer break, it wasn’t the City of Owen Sound’s job to talk about so-called “social issues.”

Protecting the fabric of our community, basic needs such as toilets, and our mutual enjoyment of shared spaces – these are someone else’s problems.

As our family drove through town Friday afternoon around 3 p.m., we stopped at a traffic light and couldn’t escape the sight of a woman squatting, pants around her knees, urinating in a raised flowerbed.

We passed by several small groups of people shooting up and smoking drugs. One woman lay crumpled, face down, on the lawn of a local business. The man next to her loaded his pipe.

Just up the road, a new security fence has been installed to protect the alcove of a local business. Last week, it was commandeered as a campsite when a tent loosely constructed of a tarp, a shopping cart, and two stolen recycling bins was erected in the space.

Like Summerfolk a few weeks before, the Salmon Spectacular (powered by volunteers) attracted thousands of people to the City. This is the Owen Sound we showed them.

Make no mistake… these are learned behaviours.

Just as we were conditioned over time not to use public streets as washroom facilities and to follow social norms and laws in public, Owen Sound has become a place where anything goes.

The word is out.

It’s acceptable to openly use drugs, intimidate, urinate and defecate in full view, steal what you need to survive, and harass or verbally abuse residents for things you want but cannot afford. 

No one will stop you.

A makeshift camp in an entryway on 10th St E, Owen Sound. Photo source: Lorna Rouse.

When Windsor’s Mayor, Drew Dilkens, announced his city’s downtown improvement action plan in April, he said:

“We are not blind to the issues facing our downtown. Make no mistake, we want to help people battling mental-health and addiction issues. At the same time, we are not going to allow the behaviours often associated with people suffering these conditions to take over our city.”

Owen Sound is being defined by our opioid crisis, and no slick marketing plan or PR strategy will fix this.

The impact is far-reaching, into every corner of our community. Businesses continue to leave, DC Taylor’s and Hewett & Milne Ltd. Ontario Land Surveyors among the most recent to pack it in and relocate.

Vacant storefronts with windows boarded over with plywood have become commonplace.

Less than a block from the nearly $2 million Phase 2 River District back-alley refurbishment project ($676,000 of which is tax-supported capital), building owners are installing security fencing and rooftop spikes to keep people from taking over their space. 

The anxiety-inducing constant wail of sirens reminds me more of New York City or downtown Toronto than a quaint town of 21,000 “where you want to live.” Violent crime has surged.

Emergency services are overwhelmed; Owen Sound Police responded to 317 calls between July 29 and August 2 alone. Paramedics sometimes revive the same people multiple times a day.

We should not be surprised when first response services ask for substantial budget increases for 2025.

What will it take to turn the tide?

The City of Belleville declared a state of emergency in February over its growing addiction, mental health, and homelessness crisis.

A CBC documentary on Belleville’s challenges was re-aired this past week, and I couldn’t help but notice striking similarities between the state of crisis in their town and ours. 

The Owen Sound Current has requested opioid and overdose-related service call data from Grey Bruce OPP, Owen Sound Police and Fire, Grey Bruce Public Health, paramedics services, and more. We’ve requested service data and on-site interviews with OSHaRE and Safe ‘N Sound.

So far, we’re learning that a patchwork of software systems, data collection and retention practices, and reporting procedures are making it difficult to gather and make meaningful comparisons. Difficult, but not impossible.

We’ll examine and share data in the coming weeks to help give context to what Owen Sounders report you’re seeing and experiencing.

In the meantime, Owen Sound’s Mayor and Council are being called on to evolve and adapt to our current reality – and fast.

Whether they’ll rise to the challenge remains to be seen.

This letter we received from Andrea Donaldson, a recovery advocate who is now nine years sober, feels particularly relevant today. Thank you to Andrea for her leadership on this issue and willingness to share her experience.

~ Miranda

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