{"id":103743,"date":"2026-04-14T08:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103743"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:14:27","slug":"18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"18,000 lives later, B.C. marks 10 years since declaring overdose emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ashley Joannou Events are planned across British Columbia today to mark 10 years since the province declared a public health emergency related to the overdose crisis that has since killed more than 18,000 people. A &#8220;moment of silence and minute of rage&#8221; is scheduled for this afternoon at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria as part of a rally being organized by advocacy groups including Moms Stop the Harm, Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and the Nanaimo Area Network of Drug Users. Similar memorial events are planned in Prince George, Cranbrook and Powell River along with an online webinar on Indigenous approaches to harm reduction and an art show in Victoria. On April 14, 2016, the emergency declaration was issued after the province had reported 474 apparent illicit drug deaths&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F14%2F18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ashley Joannou Events are planned across British Columbia today to mark 10 years since the province declared a public health emergency related to the overdose crisis that has since killed more than 18,000 people. A &#8220;moment of silence and minute of rage&#8221; is scheduled for this afternoon at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria as part of a rally being organized by advocacy groups including Moms Stop the Harm, Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and the Nanaimo Area Network of Drug Users. Similar memorial events are planned in Prince George, Cranbrook and Powell River along with an online webinar on Indigenous approaches to harm reduction and an art show in Victoria. On April 14, 2016, the emergency declaration was issued after the province had reported 474 apparent illicit drug deaths... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F04%2F14%2F18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>18,000 lives later, B.C. marks 10 years since declaring overdose emergency - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"18,000 lives later, B.C. marks 10 years since declaring overdose emergency - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ashley Joannou Events are planned across British Columbia today to mark 10 years since the province declared a public health emergency related to the overdose crisis that has since killed more than 18,000 people. A &#8220;moment of silence and minute of rage&#8221; is scheduled for this afternoon at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria as part of a rally being organized by advocacy groups including Moms Stop the Harm, Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and the Nanaimo Area Network of Drug Users. Similar memorial events are planned in Prince George, Cranbrook and Powell River along with an online webinar on Indigenous approaches to harm reduction and an art show in Victoria. On April 14, 2016, the emergency declaration was issued after the province had reported 474 apparent illicit drug deaths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/14\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-14T12:14:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"18,000 lives later, B.C. marks 10 years since declaring overdose emergency\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-14T12:14:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/14\\\/18000-lives-later-b-c-marks-10-years-since-declaring-overdose-emergency\\\/\",\"name\":\"18,000 lives later, B.C. marks 10 years since declaring overdose emergency - 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