Posted: May 11, 2021 9:33 PM PT | Last Updated: May 12
Gerald Spike Peachey is described by friends as a warm, gentle character, with a heart of gold. (CBC News)
Gerald Spike  Peachey, a longtime Downtown Eastside resident and safe drug use advocate, has died at the age of 55.
Sarah Blyth, executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society, says Peachey represented the Downtown Eastside community with his activism. He was a really, really big champion of overdose prevention, said Blyth, who met Peachey almost 10 years ago.Â
Blyth told
Early Edition host Stephen Quinn that Peachey was one of the first volunteers at the Overdose Prevention Society, he spoke as an advocate for many organizations, and was a contributor at Megaphone Magazine.
Olli Dickerson @twinoakmedia/Submitted
The global pandemic’s impact on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside community is being highlighted this weekend with a day-long online interactive event.
Employ to Empower’s third annual Cardboard Project takes place on May 15 from 10 am to 7:30 pm, and features a talk show-style event as well as a unique artistic showcase of over 100 written experiences by DTES residents.
The messages on the cardboard pieces highlight members’ answers to this year’s Cardboard Project question: “What have you learned about connection and community in the past year?”
“We want to provide a space to reflect on the past year, remind us of our resiliency, and shed light on the importance of staying socially connected within our communities, in whatever way we can,” said Christina Wong, Executive Director of Employ To Empower in a release.
Indo-Canadian VPD Cop Previously Convicted Of Uttering Threats Being Investigated thelinkpaper.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thelinkpaper.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
VANCOUVER CTV News has learned a Vancouver police officer previously convicted of threatening a business owner is now under review by the VPD and B.C.’s police watchdog for comments made to an overdose prevention advocate. Const. Deepak Sood was recorded in a confrontation with the executive director of the Overdose Prevention Society over the weekend in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, with the officer saying I ll smack you one, and a second recording ending by telling her to “go back to dealing drugs.” “When he threatened to smack me, I was actually afraid,“ said Sarah Blyth, describing what happened in the moments before that comment.
Front-line workers warn that B C s opioid crisis is only getting worse ctvnews.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ctvnews.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.