Kamloops councillors are hoping a pitch for the federal government to respond to better to the opioid crisis can gain traction.

Council will be asking the feds to declare a national public health emergency, so that the opioid crisis is taken seriously and funded better.

Councillors Sadie Hunter, Kathy Sinclair and Dale Bass put forward the motion today.

Bass used her son as example of someone affected by the crisis.

“Today’s the birthday of his best friend who died three years ago of an opioid overdose. My son is a wreck today. His best friend’s sister is a wreck today. His best friend’s mother is grieving today. This crisis is destroying families. And it’s a pain that never goes away,” Bass says.

“What I’m hoping comes from this is that what we do here today, other people will do, and then other provinces will do. And then perhaps the federal government will realize that they can mobilize on opioids as much as they reacted to COVID. And recognize this is harder, it’s more complex.”

The motion also calls for support from other municipalities in Canada in trying to get the federal government to take action.

Hunter implores other municipalities to do the same.

“The federal government and other orders of government can’t ignore all of us. So if we are all united and making a strong statement, in terms of our interest in moving towards decriminalization and providing a safe supply, they have to act. So we can stand together on this.”

As of Oct. 31, Kamloops had 50 residents die of an overdose so far this year, which the fourth-most of any municipality in B.C.

Province-wide, overdoses killed 162 people in October and have killed 1,386 people this year. Since April of 2016, when a provincial health emergency was declared in B.C. for the opioid crisis, overdoses have killed 5,266 residents in the province.