St. Catharines city hall rules force drug overdose awareness campaign to find new location

A St. Catharines drug overdose awareness campaign says it has a new spot after new rules at city hall forced them to rethink their location.

“I woke up and noticed his car still outside, went downstairs and Zachary was lying on the floor,” says Diann Brown.

This moment will be etched in Brown’s memory forever, the day she lost her 23-year-old son Zach five years ago to a drug overdose.

“People judged him saying they didn’t realize he was an addict. He deserved to die if he was going to do drugs,” says Brown.

Brown realized she needed to break the stigma surrounding drug overdoses. She created an awareness campaign through a ribbon display.

There are 1,100 ribbons in the display and each one of them represents someone who has been affected or passed away from a toxic drug overdose. The moms behind the campaign want you to know it could happen to anyone.

Amy Boyle also lost her son to a drug overdose one year ago. She says working with Brown on the display has been helpful as she continues to relive the day her son died.

“I always sang him a song when he was a baby: ‘It’s ok mommy’s here.’ So I sang him that and I rocked him and said, ‘It’s ok mommy’s here Hunter,'” says Boyle.

The campaign began at St. Catharine’s city hall five years ago. At that time no permit was required but Brown says in September last year she received an email from the city stating her display fell under a new category.

As a result it would have to be downsized and she would need to apply for a permit, so they decided to search for a new location and now the campaign is currently on display at Silver Spire Church with no restrictions.

CHCH News reached out to the city, which says new rules on size and permits were needed to make the space accessible for all.

The city says: “The International Overdose Awareness display was actually approved under our new Community and Cultural Displays Policy, and the group was permitted to erect their display through the month of August. We recognize the application process and policy were new this year, and size limitations would not have been part of previous displays.”

Brown and Boyle say they have plans to expand their campaign to other cities as they continue to remember their sons and raise awareness.

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