3 die on Victoria streets little more than an hour apart as Island Health issues drug toxicity warning

Three people died a little over an hour apart in Victoria on Monday, Victoria police and the B.C. Coroners Service have confirmed. 

An outreach worker says the city's enforcement of anti-sheltering bylaws has made it more difficult for support workers to help those struggling on downtown streets and blames their deaths on drug overdoses.

The B.C. Coroners Service says a man also died in downtown Victoria on March 8 and that the cause of all four deaths is still under investigation. 

On Tuesday, Island Health issued an advisory of an increased risk to those using unregulated substances on the South Island, as "drug poisonings are increasing in Greater Victoria."

Karen Mills, founder of Peer 2 Peer Indigenous Society, says she's never seen so many deaths within the local street community as she has since Victoria bylaw enforcement began cracking down on those sheltering on Pandora Avenue last summer. It came in the wake of a man experiencing a seizure allegedly attacking a paramedic who was caring for him.

"Working down on the front lines, it's very frustrating when folks get displaced," said Mills, who knew the three people who fatally overdosed personally through her street outreach work. 

"It's worrisome we don't know where they are, and this is how we found out where our clients were because they were deceased."

Mills isn't the only one concerned about the toll these enforcement efforts, also called "street sweeps," are taking on those living unhoused and with addictions in Victoria.

Correne Antrobus, the B.C. lead for Holding Hope, a support group for loved ones of those lost to the toxic drug crisis, says these sweeps exacerbate the toxic drug crisis by pushing more people to use substances alone — resulting in more fatal outcomes. She said a similar cluster of deaths occurred in November.

"The sweeps aren't helping. They're just pushing people further away, and they're dying," she said, a concern she's raised with the City of Victoria.

Colleen Mycroft, manager of media relations for the City of Victoria, did not comment directly on the deaths when asked by the CBC.

In a statement, she wrote that bylaw officers enforce overnight sheltering rules daily and that bylaw staff maintain "excellent" relationships with local health, housing, and outreach organizations to connect unhoused people with services.

She said impounding the property of people sheltering on the street is a "last resort" if people do not comply repeatedly with officers.

"Staff recognize that each person is a unique individual and consequently staff do not conduct 'sweeps' or treat everyone in the exact same manner," wrote Mycroft.

The B.C. Coroners Service and the Victoria Police Department provided details on each of the four recent deaths, although none would comment on the cause of death at this stage.

Amber Schinkel, media relations manager for the B.C. Coroners Service, said that coroners will investigate and determine the cause and circumstances of death.

"Because all are open investigations, and in quite early stages of investigation, I can't begin to speculate on the cause or confirm if they are connected to unregulated drug toxicity," she wrote in a statement.

Memorial service to be held

The first death, on the morning of March 8, came after VicPD officers and first responders responded to reports of a man in medical distress in the 600-block of Johnson Street.

In spite of life-saving measures, VicPD spokesperson Gemma Stroobant said the man "succumbed to their situation." 

Just after 8 a.m. on March 10, police responded to a sudden death on the 700-block of Johnson Street, where they found a person who had died. 

Minutes later, on the 900-block of Pandora Avenue, VicPD were called to check on a man who had been found unconscious and was not breathing. Police say the man regained consciousness after first responders administered aid, and he was transported to the hospital; however, the B.C. Coroner's Service confirmed that he died.

That same morning at 9:15, officers found one person dead at the 2900-block of Douglas Street.

Foul play is not suspected in any of these deaths, police say.

The B.C. Coroners Service and the VicPD declined to say whether this number of deaths by people found on the street was unusual. Victoria police would only say that they do not track this information.

Mills says that outreach workers intend to hold a memorial service for the people who died on the green park space along Pandora Avenue when the weather improves, along with a ceremony for those who were Indigenous.

She says she's been frustrated with the online response to their passing, which has included hateful and stigmatizing comments about people struggling with homelessness and addictions. 

"These are unnecessary deaths, and they're heartbreaking," she said. "Every single person that has died recently has had potential."