Mr. Speaker, Alby was a light to all who knew him. He loved to sing and dance, and he brought joy across our community with his performances. He was deeply loved and had a bright future ahead.
Alby wanted to live, but in June of this year, his parents, Lisa and Albert, lost Alby, who was just 23 years old, to the poison drug crisis. In his mom’s words, she shared, “Close your eyes and imagine losing your child to this. We are losing children left and right. We have to do something.”
In fact, experts tell us that we have to do more of everything: more treatment, more mental health supports, more housing and more harm reduction. In the meantime, I send my thanks to frontline workers who are saving lives, such as those at Sanguen, The Working Centre, Community Healthcaring and Thresholds in my community. I encourage all of my colleagues to support expanding the resources frontline workers provide so parents do not have to lose their children this way.