'Everyone has worth': Sask. friends create GoFundMe for local charities after overdose death
After the overdose death of their friend, three people in Saskatoon have come together to raise money to help people struggling with mental health and addiction.
Julian Hazen-Babchuk was 21 years old when he died from a drug overdose on Aug. 22.
According to his friends, Dana Kwan, Chantal Burke and Montana Manion, Hazen-Babchuk had been facing mental health issues.
“It wasn’t a recent struggle for him. It is something he has been struggling throughout the end of high school until now. A lot of it had to do with issues with mental health, and everyone has their different ways of coping,” Manion said.
The three friends said Hazen-Babchuk was outgoing and was always willing to help out others.
“He was a really fun person to be around, you always felt a sense of happiness when you were around him,” said Burke.
“Julian was probably one of the easiest people to talk to. There was no forced conversation, there was no hesitation. You could just say what you wanted and he would listen. He always put others before himself, it didn’t matter what he was going through,” Manion said.
They started a GoFundMe in honour of Hazen-Babchuk. The money will go towards local charities of his family’s choice that help people in similar situations.
“I think one message that comes to mind is to really have people understand that no matter what they are going through, they are not alone,” Burke said.
“We want them to reach out to resources and have those places where they’re welcome no matter what they’re dealing with or who they are. Everyone has worth and they deserve to have help.”
They’re hoping to raise $60,000 by Hazen-Babchuk’s birthday on Dec. 27, with $54,000 going to the family to be split between charities and $6,000 towards a memorial bench.
OVERDOSES 'SLICE RIGHT THROUGH OUR WHOLE SOCIETY'
According to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, the province has seen a drastic spike in overdose deaths over the past few years.
In 2020, there were 303 confirmed drug toxicity deaths and 102 so far in 2021 – back in 2010, there were 78. The number of suspected deaths due to drug toxicity has also seen a major increase, with 36 in all of 2020, compared to 167 so far this year.
“Our numbers are ahead of what they were last year. That’s been compiling every year ahead of the year before that. We are seeing a steady increase unfortunately in deaths contributed by drug toxicity,” said Clive Weighill, chief coroner for Saskatchewan.
Weighill said the numbers don’t discriminate, and drug overdoses can happen to people in all sorts of situations and demographics.
“It’s a really complicated issue, even to discuss, because there’s so many variables with this. People that succumb to drug overdoses, it happens for a variety of reasons,” Weighill said.
“It could be somebody that has addiction problems. It could be someone that’s depressed. There is no one demographic, there is no one age group. It is right across the province. It seems to slice right through our whole society.”
Weighill said fentanyl has claimed the most lives in Saskatchewan, with the drug involved in 69 of the confirmed drug toxicity deaths this year.
But it’s also people taking multiple drugs mixed together.
“Very seldom do we see just one drug involved. It’s usually a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl, or alcohol and fentanyl, or fentanyl and etizolam,” Weighill told CTV News.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.