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From YouTube: DECEMBER 15 2020 Statements Roly Russell
Description
The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
1st Session
42nd Parliament
A
Thank
you,
mr
speaker
and
good
morning,
one
of
the
most
indelibly
memorable
events
from
my
campaign
was
a
genuinely
serendipitous
opportunity
to
walk,
walk
for
a
few
kilometers
with
kevin
redski.
Some
of
you
will
have
heard
of
him.
He
is
the
champion
of
the
hope
in
the
darkness
national
walk
for
youth
mental
health
2018.
They
walked
all
across
the
country
this
year.
He
walked
from
manitoba
through
saskatchewan,
alberta
and
bc.
A
We
walked
and
we
talked
about
the
importance
of
community-led
safety
nets
and
compo
those
kind
of
safety
nets
composed
of
champions
from
faith-based
communities
from
spiritual
groups
from
rcmp
social
services,
education
and
beyond.
It
was
heartbreaking
and
it
was
full
of
hope
and
well
this.
What
I
wanted
to
speak
to
you
about
today
was
not
specifically
around
youth
mental
health,
but
but
more
the
opioid
crisis
and
our
toxic
drug
supply.
A
A
Small
and
mid-sized
communities
have
made
up
between
23
to
27
of
all
paramedic,
attended
overdose
deaths
or
overdose
events
occurring
each
year
from
2016
to
2019,
including
30,
to
34
of
all
illicit
drug
toxicity
deaths,
stigma
and
isolation
are
different
in
our
rural
communities
in
bc.
70
from
the
same
report,
70
percent
in
of
small
and
mid-sized
communities,
deaths
occurred
in
private
residences,
well,
about
half
of
deaths
in
urban
areas
were
in
private
residences.
A
We
know
part
of
the
solution,
that's
empowering
our
local
communities
to
take
leadership
and
to
help
build
those
social
safety
nets,
and
I
I
want
to
give
a
shout
out
to
groups
like
mom:
stop
the
harm
from
that
that
are
active
in
oliver
champions,
like
the
unity
skate
shop
in
a
soyuz,
and
I
just
wanted
to
reiterate
that
I'm
thrilled
to
hear
the
announcement
last
week
about
funding
for
rural
remote
indigenous
communities
to
take
action
on
this
crisis
in
our
communities.