Purple chairs honour those who lost their lives to the overdose crisis

Planes said the purpose of sharing lived experiences is to shift the perceptions and reduce the stigma about substance use and overdoses to foster empathy and understanding. Photo courtesy of Nanaimo CAT

Purple chairs are being placed around Nanaimo leading up to International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31, sharing the stories of those who lost their lives to the overdose crisis. 

Throughout August, the Nanaimo Community Action Team (CAT) is raising awareness about the overdose crisis and the urgent need to destigmatize substance use in Nanaimo. 

To raise awareness and start conversations, CAT is calling on community members to display purple chairs on porches and at the entrances of homes or stores with stories of people who have died from a drug overdose through their purple chair campaign. Each chair will have a different story or dedication written on it. 

Beverley Planes is the coordinator for Nanaimo CAT. Planes, who recently took on the role, said she is passionate about her role and the work she will be doing in it.

“I think it's a push that I needed because I like to advocate for people at the ground level, and I'm also a person with lived experience,” Planes said. “So I have a really kind of dynamic understanding of the role that the toxic drug crisis plays in our community. So it's exciting, and it's a lot of work, but it's good work.”

She said the campaign is to bring awareness to the toxic drug crisis and remember the lives lost from it. She said that placing these chairs with names or memories will start conversations to humanize the issues and drive meaningful change.

“So it includes installation of the purple chairs, asking the community to find any old purple chair they have lying around that they don't use anymore, maybe one that they do, and just painted purple and then put the name on the chair or a fact about the overdose crisis that we're in, and then this will get the conversation started,” she said.

The colour purple is used to raise awareness of overdoses and reduce the stigma of drug-related deaths, as well as to recognize the grief felt by friends and family who have lost loved ones to the overdose crisis.

“The purple colour is a symbol of our fight against the overdose epidemic, and the chairs serve as a poignant reminder of the lives lost and the need for continued advocacy,” she said.

Along with the purple chair campaign throughout the month, CAT is also asking for donations of purple chairs for their event on August 31 at Diana Krall Plaza in downtown Nanaimo. CAT hopes to fill the plaza up with 500 purple chairs.

“I just picture this sea of purple chairs, and each chair is a symbol of the number of people in Nanaimo that have died since it was declared a state of emergency in 2016,” she said.

According to the BC Coroners Service, between 2016 to June 30, 2024, there have been 488 unregulated drug deaths in Nanaimo. In 2024 as of June 30, Nanaimo has seen 53 overdose-related deaths, with 2023 having the highest number yet with 114 deaths.

“Just to have a visually compelling display of how many people are actually affected by this and then just to know that every single one of those chairs, each of those people they have someone still missing them,” she said.

Planes said an important reason for sharing stories is for their loved ones to convey that they are not forgotten and their stories matter.

“The campaign is a tribute to their memory and a call to action to prevent further loss–that we stand in solidarity with them, and commit to advocating for the necessary changes to save lives and support those affected by substance use,” she said. “I can't stress enough how these deaths are preventable, they can be prevented, we have the power to prevent them yet, people unnecessarily die from this every single day.” 

She said for those who want to share their stories to do so in a way that they feel best protects them as there is still judgment around substance use.

“It would really help to highlight the humanity behind these statistics–like we're bombarded with numbers,” she said. “We talked about these destined numbers, but every single number in that statistic is an actual human being who has actual family members that love and miss them.”

She said the purpose of sharing lived experiences is to shift the perceptions and reduce the stigma about substance use and overdoses to foster empathy and understanding.

The event on International Overdose Awareness Day will feature a resource fair, speeches, a comedy show, and performances recognizing the day, as well as an open mic for anyone who wishes to share their stories at the event.

“I remember last year, I heard a few stories and they were absolutely compelling, like they moved me to tears a few of them,” she said. “These are real people, it makes it more real when someone tells their story in their own voice, it creates that layer of empathy, I think in the listener.”

Planes said the campaign is to foster a sense of community and solidarity by standing together in this fight by humanizing issues through personal stories. 

“The biggest thing is that these deaths are preventable. For those people who do judge people who are using substances, maybe just kind of sit with that thought for a minute and maybe try to think about why things are like this– get curious instead of trying to be judgmental, which doesn't get anybody anywhere,” she said.

International Overdose Awareness Day is on August 31, and the event will be taking place at Diana Krall Plaza from 12 to 3 p.m.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.