Brantford councillors consider memorial for people lost to overdoses

A Brantford councillor fought through tears as she presented a deeply personal motion to honour people who died from an overdose.

As the Brantford and Brant County area struggles with a high rate of suspected overdose deaths, a committee considered a motion that would give families a place to grieve.

During a committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday, Councillor Rose Sicoli proposed creating a mural or memorial to honour the lives lost.

Her motion stated, “Brantford-Brant’s rate of drug overdose deaths remains above the provincial average, with 418 Brantford-Brant residents having died as a result of drug overdoses (primarily opioid-related) between 2017 – 2024.”

According to data from Grand Erie Public Health, 57 suspect drug related deaths were reported in Brantford and Brant County in 2024 alone.

While presenting her idea, Sicoli revealed the issue hits close to home.

“On July 11, 2014 I got a tragic phone call that sent shockwaves through my family,” she said, before sharing the story of a family member who had died at the age of 25.

Fighting back tears, Sicoli presented her justification, urging her fellow councillors to consider the emotional toll the deaths have on family members and friends.

“I know intimately that when you lose someone to drug overdose, it feels very unfair and it is so important to a grieving family that the world see their son, their daughter, their cousin, their grandchild as so much more than the way that they died.”

Sicoli said she had been working with a mother from her ward who also recently lost a family member.

“A mural or a monument should go up in our city,” Sicoli explained the mother’s idea. “A spot to add the names of our loved ones and a place to remember and reflect on their lives.”

Sicoli was not the only councillor who felt the personal impact of the issue.

“I don’t think there’s anybody in this community that hasn’t had some relationship with some loss from opioid addiction,” Councillor Richard Carpenter said. “I too had a niece, Cindy, a mother of five children, a young girl who died of a fentanyl overdose.”

He suggested advocacy was central to really tackling the issue.

“We should be considering - what are we doing? What is the province doing to assist us with proper treatment centres, with housing, with wraparound services to deal with opioid addiction?” he said.

Other councillors, like Greg Martin, said he also shared in that pain, but he would not be supporting the motion.

I don’t think a memorial is the appropriate thing in this case. I’ve lost two members of my family to drug overdoses, a niece and a second cousin, and it’s hard. Nobody likes to lose children,” he said. “What these people need is effective treatment. For some of them, if they won’t volunteer for it, we may have to do something to make it mandatory. It’s the only way to get them off this horrible drug.”

“It’s more important to get these people off the drugs and back into society in a healthy way than to memorialize the ones that have unfortunately gone down this tragic path,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Councillor Brian Van Tilborg said there already was a bench in Brantford’s Victoria Park that stood as a memorial to people lost to addiction.

“Care and compassion is needed in our communities and sometimes our hearts grow hard,” he said. “I’m the third councillor to speak then that says we know members of our families that this has happened to. It has hit us all. There is a place for us to grieve.”

Sicoli suggested the bench did not provide enough solace for those looking for support.

“I think the community is looking for a little bit more than just going to sit on a bench. A bench is not sufficient for me, so without losing sight of what the intention is, is that we have some type of monument where we can add the names of our loved ones and create a space of community,” she explained.

Van Tilborg said he was not fully in support of the motion in its current form, but wanted to see the idea expanded upon. Other councillors echoed his sentiment.

Ultimately, the idea was deferred with hopes to revisit it at a later date following more consultation.