New Parksville memorial bench a place to remember people lost to toxic drugs

By Kevin Forsyth at the PQB News – click here for the source article

A new memorial bench was installed at the Parksville waterfront thanks to a collaboration by Moms Stop the Harm, Oceanside Community Action Team and Rotary Club of Parksville. (Kevin Forsyth photo)

A memorial bench on the Parksville waterfront will provide a place for people to spend a quiet moment and remember loved ones lost to the ongoing toxic drug crisis.

The bench was made possible through a collaboration between Moms Stop The Harm members, Oceanside Community Action Team and the Rotary Club of Parksville.

“It’s something that our moms group has wanted for a number of years and through the OCAT and Rotary, they made that possible,” said Jane McCormick, who lost her son Jeffrey due to toxic drug poisoning in 2021. “It’s not only for the individual loss of us losing our kids, but for the general community that is grieving in hiding, almost, and it brings it out into the open and lets people know that everybody cares, and they have somewhere to come and sit and think about their loved ones. I think it’s stigma-reducing as well.

McCormick joined Moms Stop the Harm, a network of families impacted by substance-use-related harms and deaths, which advocates for changes to drug policies, provides peer support to grieving families and assistance for people with loved ones who use or have used substances.

She became a facilitator in a local Healing Hearts bereavement group, and met Sue Fichtler, whose son Evan died due to substance use harms in 2022. Together they have hosted rallies and events for the past several years. Both moms were among those who donated in support of the memorial bench.

Moms Stop the Harm is thankful to the Rotary Club, as well as the City of Parksville for having the memorial bench program.

The new bench is located close to the labyrinth in Parksville Community Park.

Parksville will host an International Overdose Awareness Day at the picnic shelter in Parksville Community Park on Aug. 29 at 4 pm, will include a candlelight vigil with a walk to the memorial bench.

In 2025, 1,826 people died due to unregulated drug toxicity, according to the BC Coroners Service.