Three years later, the pain continues
My son’s name was Elliot Eurchuk. He was only 16 when he died of an accidental overdose. He had been prescribed these drugs to manage pain while awaiting surgery. He died at home in his room on April 20, 2018. His family misses him with every breath they take.
It has been five years since British Columbia announced an epidemic of opiod overdoses — two years before his death. He was among a group who have succumbed to a disease, that our government has done little about.
In the first eight months of 2020, more people died from overdoses than from COVID-19. Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, opioid deaths have been trending upward. And yet our government of British Columbia has continued to solely focus on COVID cases and COVID deaths, ignoring those suffering from substance-use disease. Their lives are/were important too. Elliot’s life mattered.
In June 2019, Elliot’s family endured a coroner’s inquest over his death, in hopes of gaining insights into how his illness was allowed to progress without the proper supports and interventions from medical practitioners and government agencies.
Many thoughtful recommendations were developed by the men and women of the jury. An yet, to date, nothing has been implemented from these recommendations.
Elliot Eurchuk’s family loved him dearly and deeply. Why must his life be in vain?
Dr. Bonnie Henry should give the same credence to this disease as she has in the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s time to remember these souls as well.
God bless all families of those who have died or suffered from this epidemic.
Dr. Rachel Staples
Victoria
Horgan fosters division for his own benefit
Premier John Horgan says protesters should “move along” — and it would be just like Horgan to foster divisions among Indigenous peoples when it suits his capitalist objectives of clear-cutting, mining, damming and fracking.
The Rainforest Flying Squad encampment has for many months defended old-growth forest from clear-cutting at Fairy Creek near Port Renfrew. Some members of the Pacheedaht Nation are supportive of the occupation, welcomed onto the land by Elder Bill Jones.
Others are asking the campers to leave. Horgan is spewing the phrase “Indigenous rights” to cheer them on, so his buddies and political donors can get their dirty hands on an irreplaceable ecosystem that was 10,000 years in the making.
All this is so needless, when a thriving forestry industry could work exclusively in B.C.’s great expanses of second- and third-growth areas.
The NDP asked the Old Growth Strategic Review for advice. They got advice: just follow it. Released last fall, it urged immediate action to defer logging in areas with significant old-growth trees.
It’s within Horgan’s power to fund and support old-growth forest protection in the budget today.
That could include supporting First Nations to enact temporary logging deferrals, funding the economic diversification of First Nations and forest-dependent communities, and creating Indigenous Protected Areas that safeguard remaining old-growth forests.
One day soon old-growth logging will come to an end, either due to policy decisions to stop it, or because the forest is all gone.
Anne Hansen
Victoria
Want some advice, Jack? Just put the phone down
Re: “Sometimes, like Ross and Rachel, you and your phone need a break,” April 18.
When Jack Knox feels the need for a break from his phone, he should just put it down, leave it in the car, leave it at home, rather than celebrate the freedom of remote areas with no cellphone coverage.
While I enjoy my Knox chuckles, I felt this particular column was, as they say, “tone deaf.”
Bringing cellphone coverage and also now, thankfully, a return of transportation services, to more remote areas, is a strong step in the right direction of addressing the negative side of a lack of these services.
I think in particular of the tragedy of far too many missing and murdered Indigenous women and children as well as outdoor enthusiasts and others with medical emergencies.
So, rather than have a dearth of connective services available in order to feel freedom from the pressures of the modern connected world, let’s just learn to put the cellphone down and walk away for a while, rather than wish for “the enforced digital detox of a cell-service dead zone.”
We’re powerful enough thinkers to use our minds to shape our actions to “slip the electronic leash,” rather than keeping non-urban areas in the dark ages!
Christy Faraher-Amidon
Comox
Calm, cool, efficient — thanks, Victoria police
Last week I suffered a medical emergency at a busy intersection in Victoria. Fortunately good and kind people were around and I received immediate assistance.
My most heartfelt thanks must go to a young Victoria police officer who handled the situation in a calm, efficient and compassionate manner.
He took me home, stayed with me until family and neighbours could help, alerted the necessary paramedics, and completely defused a situation which was distressful and alarming to someone of my advanced years.
At a time when police are under such scrutiny, often unjustified, it is good to have one’s faith restored. As long as we have police officers of the calibre of that young constable, we the public are in good and safe hands.
Well done, Victoria police.
H.M. Kempster
Victoria
Extinction Rebellion is hardly essential
Re: “Watch for traffic disruptions as climate protesters walk from Vancouver to Victoria,” April 18.
When did participating in a demonstration became essential travel?
Case in point, the members of the Extinction Rebellion of Vancouver and their plans to take the ferry to Vancouver Island and then walk from Swartz Bay to the legislature as part of their “Walk for Mother Earth.”
Their spokesperson Maayan Kreitzman says this journey constitutes travel for essential purposes, but that doesn’t cut it. I’d like to introduce them to some of my family members who lost a loved one due to COVID-19 exposure — and all because of someone’s ignorance.
With the increase in COVID cases, particularly in the Lower Mainland, is it any wonder that cases on the Island continue to climb, when groups like this flout health orders?
Politicians of all stripes, as well as our medical health officers, have repeatedly asked all of us to limit our contacts. So what are they going to do with folks like these? Are they going to be fined? Let’s hope so — and big time.
Shirley Waldon
Victoria
Victoria council and its priorities
While we live in one of the world’s great cities, it is in crisis and there’s plenty for Victoria council to do.
There’s a poisoned drug crisis, a homelessness crisis, a public safety crisis, an affordability and housing crisis, a climate crisis, a small business crisis, a global pandemic and the resultant economic fallout.
There’s also the fundamental responsibility and challenge of managing a $300-million-plus budget to try and deliver quality services to its residents.
But council has found time to take on the federal role of foreign policy expert with its recent support of a motion to support “Solidarity with Indian Farmers.”
Weighing in on foreign political issues and dissent, of which there are an infinite number, risks alienating members within the same community that’s being supported. It also wastes staff time before, during and after council, along with some precious resources.
Residents want council to stay in their bailiwick, not wander to the cause of the week, and focus on providing quality cost-effective services and resolving chronic local issues.
It’s unacceptable using taxpayer resources to take positions on complex international policy issues — after only 25 minutes of debate — for which council has neither the time, expertise or expressed voter mandate.
Stan Bartlett, past chair
Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria
Victoria
Hey, Gwyn Morgan, run for public office
Re: “What O’Toole should have said in his speech,” commentary, April 17.
Gwyn Morgan loves to dispense free advice, and the Times Colonist seems determined to provide him with a free platform to disseminate his claptrap.
If he thinks he has all the answers to today’s social and economic challenges, I invite him to stand for office instead of continuously spouting off. Then we would see how much support his views really have.
Hugh Stephens
Victoria
We can control it, but we just don’t try
While listening to yet another critical care doctor in Ontario whose ICU was beyond capacity, and whose hospital staff was now forced to decide which of the two patients would get the one remaining respirator, plead and beg people to follow the very simple rules, I truly wanted to weep.
I couldn’t help but recall the lyrics of Barry McGuire in Eve of Destruction: “Don’t you understand what I’m trying to say, can’t you see the fears that I’m feeling today.”
What saddens me the most is that this destruction isn’t like an earthquake or some force of nature that we have no control over. This is self-made. Free will. Selfishness. Recklessness. When will we ever learn?
Ted Daly
Saanichton
A few suggestions for where to cut
I have a suggestion for trustees in the Greater Victoria School District: If you have to cut programs and courses, why not cut Marketing, Textiles, Yoga, Metalwork, or Photography?
Why would these be more important than Music?
Or why not cut Mathematics? Math has little to do with many of the priorities in your strategic plan.
A nonsensical suggestion? Of course. But no more nonsensical than cutting Music.
Eric Sager
Victoria
Historical precedent for including the dog
In September 1919, a little white dog called Muggins, who had collected in a pair of cocoa tins strapped to his harness the modern equivalent of $250,000 for war charities aiding POWs, orphaned children, injured war horses, and returned veterans, was included in a ceremony on the lawn of the legislature, in which the Prince of Wales — future King Edward VIII — laid the cornerstone for the Queen Victoria memorial.
This was not Muggins’ first brush with fame — he was included in photos with the likes of Gen. Sir Arthur Currie, among other celebrated Canadians whose value loyalty when they see it.
Nobody questioned the presence of “this grand dog,” as the prince described Muggins, on so important an occasion, least of all the prince.
Critics of Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin for including her dog Vice-Regal Canine Consort MacDuff Austin-Chester in high ceremonies at the legislature, as representative of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, a well known dog lover, would do well to educate herself in our rich local history of honouring and including canine companions.
Grant Hayter-Menzies
Author of a forthcoming biography of Muggins (1913-20)
Sidney
Yes, the dog belongs in the legislature
Unlike some grumpy self-appointed guardians of political decorum, I was overjoyed to see the lieutenant-governor’s wise choice of canine companions in attendance at what would otherwise be another mundane opening of the legislature.
Westies are remarkable little creatures, and their presence at any event automatically improves the quality of the experience for those in attendance. Our Westie loves everyone she meets, and I have yet to meet a person so emotionally stunted as to not return the sentiment.
This pandemic seems to have made everyone a bit crabby, but being upset about the presence of a small dog at a boring political function is a bit much.
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
A vote for leaving the dog at home
A note to Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin: Lose the dog.
Bringing it to dignified public ceremonies makes you, as well as the office of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, look ridiculous, even childish.
Not only is it demeaning to the occasion in question, it is disrespectful of others in attendance, including your staff. The ceremony is never to be about you and your dog. Don’t detract and don’t distract.
Thank you.
Brian Mason
Victoria
We deserve better in this virus fight
It is abundantly clear that our provincial government is prepared to do nothing about travel restrictions, and is happy to cater to the better angels of our nature.
However, it’s not working.
In the meantime, we remain locked in a watching and contemplative mode as the COVID-19 numbers and mutations ramp upward. How disappointing. We deserve better.
Neil Finnie, retired MD
Victoria
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