September 2021 - August 2022

“Wow. This mural has been nearly a year in the making and what an experience it has been.

This new public art piece lies on the south side of the Overdose Prevention Site in downtown Squamish (on the corner of Third and Main St) on the traditional unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people. It has been an absolute honour to work with Under One Roof to make this project come to life.

Under One Roof is a community hub that offers supportive housing, food access, emergency shelter, and many supports and services for folks - including the Overdose Prevention Site (OPS). Overdose Prevention Sites have arisen across the province as a direct response to the ongoing opioid crisis happening in BC. BC declared drug toxicity deaths a public health emergency in 2016. Now over 6 years into this emergency, more than 10,000 people have died due to toxic drugs. 2021 was the deadliest year to date, with 2,224 people lost. The first half of 2022 has been the highest ever recorded in that period of the calendar year, with 1,065 losing their lives to toxic drugs. These stats are tragic and incredibly alarming.

Recognizing that illicit drug use is a symptom rather than punishing, criminalizing, and stigmatizing is an important step in safe supply and harm reduction. The OPS is a distribution centre for harm reduction supplies, including nalaxone, drug checking, and trained staff members that provide rapid response when necessary. It is a safe and hygienic environment that helps reduce health, social, and economic risks associated with substance use.

With the Community Action Team at Under One Roof, we have been formally and informally reaching out to folks in the area, especially those that use the OPS, to talk about the mural design and what to represent through it. Community outreach was an integral part of the process. We wanted to hear input from folks with lived experience to see how we can honour those who have been lost - and those still struggling - from the opioid crisis. What we’ve gathered from these conversations is that, overall, people want to see an image of healing. This concept of healing came up over and over again.

When asked what healing means for people, all sorts of imagery came up:

“Cedar as medicine.”

“Birds- to represent loved ones that have passed flying over us.”

“An eagle. I read a poem about eagles at my daughter’s funeral, who I lost to an overdose.”

“A sunrise, to symbolize hope for tomorrow.”

“Something spiritual, bigger than ourselves, but not religious.”

“Poppy - for both opium and remembrance. And that these plants aren’t innately evil, yet have been demonized through our failing systems.”

“Indigenous medicinal plants to our area that have been been healing our people for ages.”

“Mountains - they make me feel peaceful.”

"Family - we must stick together in the hard times. Gotta have community."

We took note of this imagery, and with Louis, designed the mural you see today. After 7 days of painting, we are thrilled to see it complete.

Thank you to Under One Roof and the incredible Community Action Team for your support and for providing this opportunity of a lifetime. I am forever grateful.

Thank you to every person that vulnerably opened up to me, shared their story, and offered feedback for the mural design. My heart broke and was pieced back together many times over.

Thank you to Louis for coming on as a co-artist at the perfect time. You were truly a blessing to this project. I appreciate your creativity, passion, hard work, and push to include portraiture in the design. From slam poetry at the park in Banff, to the first scaffolding-warranting mural for us both, it is always a delight to make art with you.

Thank you to my family and friends for the words of encouragement to push past the low moments, when I was paralyzed by stress, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome. It meant the world.

Thank you to every single person that showed support this past week. Whether through volunteering hours of painting, lending equipment and tools, helping move scaffolding around, coffee and donut deliveries, Home Depot runs, kind words shouted from a passing car, or just coming to say hello, I appreciate you.

How to help? Learn, listen, break stigma, attend nalaxone training, vote for policy that supports harm reduction, volunteer if you can.”

- Gabriela Lech, August 2022

Read more about the project here.