{"id":103800,"date":"2026-04-15T08:28:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=103800"},"modified":"2026-04-15T08:28:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T12:28:02","slug":"desperately-missed-victims-honoured-as-b-c-marks-10-years-of-toxic-drug-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/15\/desperately-missed-victims-honoured-as-b-c-marks-10-years-of-toxic-drug-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Desperately missed&#8217; victims honoured as B.C. marks 10 years of toxic drug emergency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Wolfgang Depner Supporters gather for the Sadness and Rage rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the declaration of the public health emergency for the overdose crisis in the province at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chad Hipolito Paula Beardy said her grandson Sheldon Beardy was a good kid. He would have turned 28 on Monday. But his mother died last year, and after attending her memorial service in August, Sheldon also died of a drug overdose. Paula Beardy said Sheldon used to stay with her a lot and she misses his happy smile. &#8220;He was always very helpful,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He helped me around the house or go shopping. He was a good kid, but he did take fentanyl once in&#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%2F15%2Fdesperately-missed-victims-honoured-as-b-c-marks-10-years-of-toxic-drug-emergency%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Wolfgang Depner Supporters gather for the Sadness and Rage rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the declaration of the public health emergency for the overdose crisis in the province at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chad Hipolito Paula Beardy said her grandson Sheldon Beardy was a good kid. He would have turned 28 on Monday. But his mother died last year, and after attending her memorial service in August, Sheldon also died of a drug overdose. Paula Beardy said Sheldon used to stay with her a lot and she misses his happy smile. &#8220;He was always very helpful,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He helped me around the house or go shopping. He was a good kid, but he did take fentanyl once in... <\/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%2F15%2Fdesperately-missed-victims-honoured-as-b-c-marks-10-years-of-toxic-drug-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-103800","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 v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Desperately missed&#039; victims honoured as B.C. marks 10 years of toxic drug 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\/15\/desperately-missed-victims-honoured-as-b-c-marks-10-years-of-toxic-drug-emergency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;Desperately missed&#039; victims honoured as B.C. marks 10 years of toxic drug emergency - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Wolfgang Depner Supporters gather for the Sadness and Rage rally to mark the 10th anniversary of the declaration of the public health emergency for the overdose crisis in the province at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Chad Hipolito Paula Beardy said her grandson Sheldon Beardy was a good kid. He would have turned 28 on Monday. But his mother died last year, and after attending her memorial service in August, Sheldon also died of a drug overdose. Paula Beardy said Sheldon used to stay with her a lot and she misses his happy smile. &#8220;He was always very helpful,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He helped me around the house or go shopping. 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