A heart art project will soon provide a visual impact of the toxic drug crisis in the Alberni Valley.
As part of International Overdose Awareness Day activities in Port Alberni, people attending two different events were invited to paint wooden hearts in bright colours and include messages without using specific names. Tables were set up at the public event at the Best Western Barclay Hotel on Friday, and at another event Saturday, Aug. 31 outside the Port Alberni Friendship Center for people living in addiction.
"We need to have public recognition of the crisis," said Angeline Street, coordinator with the Community Action Team in Port Alberni. Street approached Michael Moore from Alberni Makerspace about cutting out 140 wooden hearts, representing the 140 people who have died in the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District since the toxic drug crisis was declared in 2016.
"It impacts so many people," she said; not just the people who died but their family members and friends, and community members who may have dealt with them as well.
There is a lack of recognition of the people who have died, she added. People living rough and dealing with their addictions "don't get invited to the funerals," she said, and the memorial art project will be a way for those people to honour their friends.
Street had to have an additional 10 hearts made for 10 more deaths. It was announced during the Overdose Awareness event on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024 that another 10 people died between January and July 2024 in the Alberni Valley.
The hearts will be secured to the fence in front of Dry Creek Park as a semi-permanent memorial for those who have died. The park is located in the epicentre of the drug crisis in the Alberni Valley.
The memorial will be installed on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at approximately 6 p.m.
