B.C. man using conversation to break stigma, 1 year after brother’s toxic drug death
Posted December 13, 2023 1:09 pm.
Last Updated December 14, 2023 9:20 pm.
More than 2,200 people were killed by unregulated toxic drugs across B.C. in 2022. The BC Coroners Service says it was the second-largest total ever in a calendar year.
With initial data showing 189 deaths per month in 2022, there were just over six people who lost their lives to the toxic supply each day last year.
Curtis Tablotney was one of those people.
The 36-year-old died on Nov. 14, 2022, at his home, on a work night, playing PlayStation. His father found him the next day after Curtis didn’t show up for work.
On Thursday, to mark one year since his brother’s untimely death, Curtis’ brother, Trevor, plans to sit at a bench dedicated to Curtis in Richmond’s Minoru Park. He is inviting people to do one simple thing: have a conversation.
“I feel like there’s so much pageantry around a particular image of the ‘drug user’ or a particular conversation that’s kind of pinned the [drug crisis] to three blocks of East Hastings Street. It’s pinned [the crisis] to a particular wealth bracket and class system. We’re not involving the entire community,” Trevor told CityNews.
“[Curtis] was a social guy and, unfortunately, that was kind of how we wound up in this situation. When you’re out socializing and partying, the drugs are there and it’s fine for a while — Friday, Saturday night, but it bled into Monday, Tuesday, and into the work week.”
Trevor says he battled with himself trying to come up with ways to honour his brother ahead of the anniversary of his death. Instead of a big event, he felt harnessing the power of a conversation — with friends, family, or anyone in need of someone to talk to — was the perfect way to memorialize Curtis.
“The way I would like people to remember my brother, and a lot of them do, is, he was a really funny guy, but he was also just a very, very kind person,” Trevor continued, noting many of the stories people have of Curtis, is him dropping everything at a moment’s notice to help them.
“I’m trying to take the spirit of him and be kind and engage with people and have a loving conversation and offer that kindness to the world because, without him, there’s a little bit less, that’s for sure.”
Curtis’ Dream
When Trevor goes to Minoru Park on Thursday, a very special car will also be on display, just steps away from Curtis’ memorial bench.
Trevor explains Curtis had a passion for cars and driving. His brother’s prized possession was a 1999 Mitsubishi 3000 GT he bought with plans to fix it up and really make his own.
“The car’s been around for years. Unfortunately, a couple of years after he bought that car was kind of when the addiction kind of started to really take hold. I think he had some issues with the engine and the car sat. And it sat, and sat,” Trevor recalled.
Despite their parents’ pleas for Curtis to sell the car to settle some debts, Trevor says his brother always refused, saying, “I can’t, this is my dream car.”
After Curtis passed, Trevor says he and his mother were trying to figure out what to do with his sibling’s possessions. It didn’t feel right to sell the car, so the family decided to make Curtis’ dream come true.
The first event the family held in Curtis’ honour was in April, to mark the anniversary of the toxic drug crisis being declared a public health emergency in B.C.
Trevor, his partner, and his mother put up 2,272 purple flags near the library in Steveston — where the family grew up — to honour the lives lost to the toxic drug crisis in 2022.
“People were coming up and asking us and talking to us, being like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I found that the conversations that you’re having as people approach you were so engaging and productive that I was like, ‘What if we did that with the car?’ The car itself is unique enough that, if you know that car, people will come up and talk to you,” Trevor explained.
Bit by bit, the family is fixing the car up. Trevor not only uses the vehicle as a conversation starter, but also as a means to distribute Naloxone kits, drug testing strips, and resources to help direct people to support throughout the community.
Funds being used on the car are raised through a fundraiser that was launched in July, on Curtis’ birthday.
Lee Conroy, a part-owner of LT Fastworks, worked on the 3000 GT. He says he and Trevor connected when Trevor posted on Facebook looking for someone to help fix Curtis’ car.
“Our shop actually specializes in Mitsubishi. So that was the first reason why I reached out, to start,” Conroy told CityNews.
However, when he learned more about the story behind the car, Conroy says he quickly found out how close the Tablotneys’ story was to his own.
“I’ve lost brothers and other friends who have had [addiction] issues also, so that was kind of a second thing,” Conroy explained.
“It was emotional for me, I won’t lie. It was definitely a different project than just taking on something like just building a racecar for somebody to go to the track, right? There’s more sentimental meaning behind it.”
Conroy says the car itself was special. He and his own brother, who was also killed by the toxic drug supply, had driven around in the same type of vehicle in the past. So when he was able to get the car running, it was an emotional feeling.
“We’re just like, yeah! Like screaming and freaking out. It was super cool, but just for me to message [Trevor] and be like, ‘Hey, man, I got the car running for you.’ How stoked he was on that — that was that was the best thing [out] of everything for me, was seeing that part,” Conroy added.
Breaking the stigma
On Thursday, Trevor says people will be able to find him at his brother’s memorial bench, which is also dedicated to their grandmother who died six months before Curtis, in Minoru Park from sun up to sun down, rain or shine.
Everyone is welcome to join him and his family and strike up conversation.
“I didn’t want it to be much more than that — just a conversation,” Trevor explained. “I’ll be there all day. That’s the tone that I want for the day, just natural, a conversation. Not a scheduled conversation.”
More than anything, Trevor hopes to break the stigma around drug use.
“Let someone know if you’re doing drugs. That’s why people are dying, they’re doing drugs alone. My brother passed away by himself … It was a work night, he was supposed to be at work the next morning. … And make sure you’re doing the precautions to do the drugs safely if you’re doing them,” Trevor said.
“For those of you who are out there actively passing judgement on drug use … people are going to do the drugs regardless. Never assume it’s not happening. Have the conversation with people around you about how to do drugs safely.”
Trevor is also offering his own time to anyone who may be struggling or who needs someone to chat with. You can reach him through his website.
You can find some resources around addictions and substance use online through the B.C. government’s website.
