B.C. advocate in Thunder Bay shares 30-year survival story as Ont. set to shut many safe consumption sites [Video]

Guy Felicella says he was stuck in a cycle of addiction, homelessness and crime for more than 30 years, but accessing harm reduction support in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside kept him alive long enough to reach recovery.

Felicella travelled to northwestern Ontario this week to share his story at the Thunder Bay District Health Unit’s (TBDHU) eighth annual harm reduction conference. His experience with addiction began at age 12.

“[I was] good at getting sober, never really good at staying sober,” Felicella said.

Vancouver and Thunder Bay are among the hardest hit in Canada by the opioid crisis.

More than 2,500 people died as a result of toxic drugs in Vancouver last year, at a rate of 56 per 100,000 population across the Vancouver Coastal Health authority.

In the same year, Thunder Bay saw the highest rate of opioid-related deaths in Ontario, at 69.5 per 100,000 population.

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