Stratford recognizes International Overdose Awareness Day with flag raising ceremony

Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma and peer outreach worker Joe Gladding raise the International Overdose Awareness Day flag on Stratford City Hall’s central flagpole on Aug. 29.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

This year’s International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD)’s theme was “one big family, driven by hope.” As Holly Smith, director of clinical programs at the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Huron Perth, told a crowd that gathered on the front steps of Stratford City Hall on Aug. 29, that highlights the huge impact overdose has on individuals and on families and communities.

“It also highlights that we as communities can come together to heal, to prevent further loss and support one another,” Smith said. “… Overdose does not discriminate, and its impact ripples through families, workplaces and entire communities.”

IOAD is celebrated every year on Aug. 31 to bring together local communities across Canada and encourage everyone to take action when it comes to overdose. That could mean holding an event, spreading the message or actively working to mitigate the effects of overdoses.

Though, as Joe Gladding, peer outreach worker at CMHA Huron Perth, said, it could be as simple as carrying Narcan or naloxone with you.

“I was asked recently by somebody, ‘What's the best thing I can do if I have a loved one who's suffering with opioid use disorder?’ And I said, ‘The best thing you can do is have naloxone,’” Gladding said. “You can't necessarily make somebody change what they're doing … but you can do things to make sure you're ready to help if help is needed.

“You know, people have smoked marijuana and died from a fentanyl overdose, they had no idea was there. Police officers have died from just having skin contact when searching a vehicle with car fentanyl touching their skin. It's an extremely dangerous substance, and the best thing you can do is have naloxone. I carry naloxone everywhere I go. I've never had to use it on anybody, and I will keep carrying it because I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

While there are no concrete numbers that capture the sheer number of actual overdoses that happen every day, there is plenty of data surrounding fatalities.

According to the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, and as reported by Public Health Ontario, four people in Huron Perth died from opioid toxicity in 2024 compared to 16 in 2023. In the whole province, there were 2,231 opioid toxicity deaths in 2024 – about six people every single day.

Although the effects of overdoses are felt most by those experiencing them, they also have a severe impact on family and loved ones. Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH), a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths, provided one of its purple chairs to the Stratford event this year. It sat empty, save for messages and photos, by the steps of city hall that day.

“That’s the empty chair that sits at their kitchen table that should be filled with somebody from their family,” Gladding explained. “And so they bring it here … to have it up here as a reminder of that empty chair that's in so many houses, so many houses around the world.”

To contend with the devastating results of overdoses, CMHA is dedicated to a non-judgemental harm reduction approach. It offers a number of services, such as addiction medicine clinics, and has a multidisciplinary staff team that includes counselors, case managers, peer supporters, court supporters, community withdrawal management workers, to name a few.

“Our work is driven by our values and inclusivity and dignity for all,” Smith told the gathered crowd. “We strive to empower individuals and build hope for the future, because that is what we all deserve. The opposite of addiction is not abstinence or sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.”