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.