Candles were lit for loved ones lost to overdoses Saturday night at the Barrie City Hall courtyard.
The International Overdose Awareness Day Vigil of Hope and Remembrance was also to be marked by an overnight Solidarity Sleep Out.
“We can’t do this alone, we have to fight the fight, together,” Amy Pritzker, who is with Hospice Simcoe, said to an audience of about 50 people at 70 Collier St., in the city’s downtown. “I wish you all peace and I wish you all community.”
Pritzker said her message was also for the homeless, those living on the street.
Christine Nayler, co-founder and director of Ryan’s Hope, said Saturday’s gathering was to hold all levels of government to account to take meaningful action to address the growing housing and homelessness crisis.
But the divisions Nayler said she feels make it difficult.
“You can really feel the there’s an us versus them, a feel in the air, and that’s why we’re doing our sleepout (overnight Saturday night) -- to show there is no us and them," she said. "We're just a community of people, some people that are housed, some unhoused, some struggling with substance abuse issues.
“We all have our issues. It’s hard. We’re just here to support each other,” added Nayler.
She started Ryan’s Hope in memory of her son following his death from a toxic drug overdose in 2020.
“We lost our son,” she said. “We spent eight years trying to get him support and services, but because he used substances he was treated as less than.”
She has also said politicians are being called upon to begin implementing the recommendations of the Federal Housing Advocate’s final report, including an end to evictions of homeless encampments.
The city said last spring it was not proceeding with evictions in its Barrie encampments, but municipal law enforcement staff are advising individuals when their actions or behaviours are contrary to municipal bylaws.
Last year, an Ontario Superior Court ruling deemed bylaws prohibiting homeless