At the intersection of Highways 97 & 16, a crowd gathered on April 14th to mark the grim ten year anniversary of BC’s Toxic-Drug Crisis announcement in 2016, and plant 594 purple crosses in the ground to commemorate the local lives lost over the decade. That number continues to rise since the event was organized, and is estimated to already be over 615 according to Emily Christensen-Sweeney of Soonats’ooneh, formerly known as Central Interior Native Health Society. The rate of related deaths in the Northern Health region began to fall in 2025, though Christensen-Sweeney isn’t yet wholly inspired by this change, “While the numbers are appearing to go down, that doesn’t necessarily mean that things have improved at all. It just means that we’ve lost so many people.”

Community members & professionals recounted the impact of the Toxic-Drug Crisis on their lives to the crowd, consisting of friends, spouses, parents and children.

- Ian Gregg, CFURadio 88.7FM, Due North News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Pansy attended to commemorate her late husband Eric. Her sign reads: Eric Marc-Bai Feb 22 - May 28
My hearts been broken since the day you left/ But you opened my eyes/ The day you left I lost my best friend/ But now I love doing the work I do saving lives

Further Resources:

Call the Northern Health Virtual Care Clinic open 10:00 am to 10:00 pm PST 7 days a week at 1-844-645-7811 Extension 2 reaches the substance use team
Call the 24-hour crisis line for Northern BC at 1-888-562-1214
Call BC’s Opiod Treatment Access Line open seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m at 1-833-804-8111
Soonats’ooneh Community Health Centre can be reached at 250-564-4422
Positive Living North open Monday-Friday 9:00am – 4:30pm. Call local 250.562.1172 or toll free to 1.888.438.2437
Call the POUNDS Project at 250-617-1160
Broken Hearts of Fentanyl, a branch of PG Hospice Paliative Care Society, meets every second Thursday early evening (250) 563-2551
Moms Stop The Harm have members in Prince George—Lheidli T’enneh