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Twenty-four people had signed up to address council Thursday, including representatives of firefighters and people who use drugs. The most poignant statements came from those who had lost loved ones to overdose.

Deb Bailey urged council to move forward with the task force recommendations, and said she would give them “two really good reasons that you should.”

The first reason was Bailey’s own daughter, Ola, who told her parents Dec. 22, 2015, that she was going Christmas shopping at Pacific Centre.

But two days later, police officers arrived at Bailey’s door, she said, “And that’s how my husband and I ended up in the morgue on Christmas Eve.”

Ola Bailey was 21 years old when she suffered her fifth and final overdose. The person who was using drugs with Ola had left her, either dead or in distress, in the stairwell of a Downtown Eastside SRO, and stole her backpack, her phone and her Christmas shopping.

“I really hate the fact that Ola died alone and far from the family that loved her to bits,” Bailey said. “She was my best buddy. And I miss her.”

Bailey’s second reason for urging action Thursday, she said, was a 23-year-old man named Bradley who died last month after taking a pill he thought was Xanax, but actually contained fentanyl.

Bailey met Bradley’s mother earlier this week, she said, who told her she sleeps with her son’s ashes.

“You might find that macabre,” Bailey said. “But I totally get it.”

“Vancouver is certainly the epicentre for this crisis in Canada. And I believe the mayor’s recommendations put us on the path of potentially becoming a lighthouse for all of Canada,” Bailey said. “It will be long and difficult, but it will be a way out of the death and darkness.”

At deadline Thursday evening, council had finished hearing from speakers and continued to discuss amendments to the recommendations.

dfumano@postmedia.com

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