A rally was held in Windsor for the National Day of Action on the Overdose Crisis
A group of local activists are calling for immediate action on the opioid crisis.
About a dozen people gathered at the University of Windsor's Social Work department on Tuesday and marched to Windsor police headquarters and to Windsor City Hall.
While at each location, the group read out its list of demands including a call for the federal government to declare a national public health emergency and to provide emergency funding for overdose prevention sites (OPS).
Spokesperson Brandon Bailey says people are dying in our community, calling the number of deaths staggering.
"In the last two-and-a-half years across Canada, there has been 10,300 lives lost. In Ontario in 2017, we lost 1,261 people and in Windsor alone we lost 28 people in the first nine months of 2018," he says.
Bailey says there are specific things the group is asking from city police as well as the the municipal government.
"We want all first responders to carry Naloxone and the Windsor Police Service and other organizations in the Windsor area to come together and support an overdose prevention site," he says.
The group in Windsor joined over 21 cities across the country in hosting panel discussions and rally's for the National Day of Action on the Overdose Crisis.
But Bailey isn't confident that changes will be made in the near future.
"I have faith that Windsor will follow the trend but we like to be different here, so at this moment it doesn't give me any faith in the fact that the police will carry it. But the police need to know that the community wants the officers as well as fire to be carrying Naloxone," he says.
Windsor is one of the last remaining medium sized cities in Ontario that does not equip police with naloxone.