'These are our children': How ribbon displays are honouring overdose deaths
August marks Overdose Awareness Month and a group of Manitobans got an early start to the campaign.
Arlene Last-Kolb, the co-founder of Overdose Awareness Manitoba, took to Churchill Drive last week to start the organization's purple ribbon campaign.
"The purple ribbon campaign is a way to bring awareness and honour those who died too soon from drug-related deaths," said Last-Kolb.
Now in its fourth year, the campaign commemorates those who passed away from substance-related harms.
"We put these purple ribbons up on trees with pictures to put faces to the numbers. To remind everyone we are talking about our loved ones," said Last-Kolb.
This year, 51 people's photos will be featured, including Last-Kolb's 24-year-old son, who died from fentanyl poisoning in 2014.
"These are our children. These are our loved ones. These are people that are truly missed," said Last-Kolb. "Many of these deaths are preventable and we want to bring awareness."
Overdose Awareness Manitoba will be setting up purple ribbon displays at 11 locations, six within Winnipeg and several in more rural centres like Selkirk, Teulon and St. Adolphe.
"We're just asking for a lot of support and love," Last-Kolb said. "We need to end this stigma."
Along with awareness, the campaign aims to promote the benefits of the opioid reversing drug naloxone, which can be used in overdose situations.
"We need better distribution of naloxone, so I would like to see more people have naloxone. I would like to see the government have a long-term plan to make sure our services are very well covered with naloxone."
While the province has made recent changes to declassify the drug, Last-Kolb said she believes paramedics should become distributors and give naloxone to people who are likely to overdose.
"We want to change this and a lot of these deaths are preventable," she said.
Overdose Awareness Manitoba said anyone is welcome to add purple ribbons to display and those who have lost loved ones to drug-related harms are welcome to add their loved one's photo.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.