After stepping into a lead role with the qathet Community Action Team (qCAT) six years ago and as community development manager with Lift Community Services four years ago, Kathryn Colby is ready to move on.
"It's time for me to leave because I am absolutely exhausted by this never-ending crisis that could end tomorrow if we treated it like the emergency that it is," said Colby. "It's time to bring new hope to the region and have someone else work alongside our community to put into action their wonderful and smart and innovative ideas."
In 2018, City of Powell River consistently had the second highest illicit drug overdose death rate per population among local health areas in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), according to BC government statistics. Community Action Teams (CATs), were created as part of the BC government’s response to the toxic drug crisis.
"When I first moved here, we [Powell River] had the second highest per capita death rate in the VCH region," said Colby. "Now we have one of the lowest [overdose death rates]."
Colby said the problem was that the city did not have investments in the right kinds of services. But once Colby and the qCAT team began talking to folks within the substance use community, frontline emergency responders and local leadership, the once dire situation started to turn around quickly.
The first of its kind rural harm-reduction site was opened in Powell River in 2019. Colby said there are at least 200 visits a day currently.
Colby moved with her partner to the qathet region a couple of years before taking on the qCAT role and quickly grew to love the people here.
"I've seen nothing but really strong, deep community connections in a geographically isolated area, and the range of people who live here and work cooperatively towards the common good made me feel like anything was possible," said Colby. "That's what attracted me to the community."
Colby said it was former city councillor Maggie Hathaway who, in 2017, spearheaded the idea of bringing the community together to discuss the fentanyl and opioid crisis.
"What's actually happened is that a lot of huge social issues are being downloaded onto local governments, no matter where they are on the political spectrum," said Colby. "A lot of the divisiveness, worry and different rhetoric we have coming down around city hall, or even provincially, is actually something that's universally being experienced in BC."
Homeless encampments, the increasingly toxic drug supply and frustration felt by communities, big and small across BC, is on the rise, with criticism directed at governments for inaction and/or indifference to the crisis.
"I would say that nobody wants the lifestyle impacts of substance use and homelessness to show their front step," said Colby. "What I would say is that it's not okay for anybody to feel insecure in their homes; it's not okay for people to be forced to witness people suffering in their community."
But Colby thinks there is a better way to address these social issues that impact everyone, and that there are bigger things at stake.
"All of our communities across BC are facing this and the number one thing that I would say to people is that there's a housing crisis, there's an affordability crisis," said Colby. "Families can't afford food, their rent is astronomical, wages aren't matching and people need support, whether they're seniors or families or substance users or disabled folks, everyone needs and deserves support."
Colby said although there were services such as the Source Club and Community Resource Centre six years ago, there are more regional services now, such as the Tla'amin Nation-led harm reduction program.
"We do offer a lot [Lift, qCAT] and the services have been operationalized both by VCH, Lift Community Services and Tla'amin Nation," said Colby.
Although a public health emergency was declared in BC in 2016, many working in communities in crisis feel like the provincial government has lost momentum and is not treating it as such.
"We survived a pandemic, and we've come out the other side," said Colby. "We know the resources it took, money was funnelling into our community and during that time, we were able to put people in hotels, put people in housing; nobody was living on the street."
In 2023, BC Coroners Service figures showed that 2,511 people died after using toxic street drugs, an average of seven people a day, the highest number since a public health emergency was declared.
"I will say, since 2023 when I was feeling very angry and so upset and mad about how many people were dying, we have seen some glimmers of things to come, such as more recovery support coming," said Colby. "There are detox beds in the hospital and things are progressing, but I don't think it's enough, everyone deserves to be supported until they're able to walk their full recovery journey, whatever that looks like."
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