Moncton City Councillor helps save man from overdose

It's a procedure some homeless front line workers perform dozens of times a year, but for Monique LeBlanc, it was a first.

The Moncton City Councillor was leaving a meeting on St. George Street around noon on Wednesday when she rushed to help a man suffering from a drug overdose.

A woman was already performing CPR on the man and another man who was in the area assisted as well.

LeBlanc, who had an anti-opioid overdose kit in her vehicle, applied Naloxone to the man for roughly ten minutes until paramedics arrived on scene.

On Thursday, LeBlanc returned to where the incident happened and said she believes she helped save the man's life.

"Yes, yes. I would say, but we were three," said LeBlanc. "I'm happy it went well."

LeBlanc had just left a meeting between city officials, business owners, and homeless advocates when she almost immediately noticed what was happening just steps away from her.

The irony is not lost on her.

"It was ironic because I was just mentioning to one of those people [at the meeting] that I had Naloxone in my car in case, you know I walk downtown all the time, I live close to here," she said.

Business owner Thierry Le Bouthillier was also in attendance at the meeting and praised LeBlanc and the others for their actions.

"In my opinion, Councillor LeBlanc actually saved the man's life," said Le Bouthillier.

Wednesday's incident came just two days after it was announced at a city council meeting that 55 homeless people died in Moncton during 2023.

That number is up from 22 in 2022 and 15 in 2021.

During a brief presentation, Marc Belliveau of the Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee read all 55 names out loud and then thanked front line workers, first responders, and community members who worked tirelessly to make sure the list wasn’t longer.

A moment of silence was then held for all 55 people.

"I was holding my tears," said LeBlanc, who was present at the council meeting. "That's the only thing I can say."

During an interview on Thursday, Belliveau said some died of natural causes, but over 30 were overdose deaths.

“It was very emotional for me to read those names. I practiced all weekend to make sure when the time came I could do it in a certain way. It’s important that people recognize they were people,” said Belliveau.

Belliveau, who knew some of the people who died, said some didn’t have families available, so agencies who work with the city’s vulnerable population sometimes host funerals.

“They’re just people. There somebody’s brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter and many times we just see them as a problem or a nuisance and as agencies we see them as people. We see their potential,” said Belliveau.

Jamie Wilson is a recovering substance user who is now helping others on the street.

He offered a possible explanation for all the opioid overdoses.

“They have to be with somebody when they’re getting high because when you get high alone then there’s nobody to push them and wake them up and then they don’t wake up and they die,” said Wilson.

Wilson makes the rounds downtown and speaks to as many people as he can to let them know it is possible to get clean.

“I just talk to them and make sure they’re OK and wake them up and let them know there’s help and there’s shelters and if they need to get help it’s possible,” said Wilson. 

Dan Brooks is the executive director of the John Howard Society who is running the out of the cold shelter/resource centre on St. George Street very near where the overdose took place.

Brooks was also at the meeting, but didn't witness the incident.

He did however speak in general about the state of homelessness in the city.

"The numbers are certainly at a high and that's right across the country, right across North America," said Brooks. "We have to remember that these people are human beings. They should be treated as such. They need to be respected. Their situations need to be handled in a dignified manner."

Brooks said people have been staying overnight at the 60-bed facility for three weeks now.

"I think overall everything is going really well," said Brooks. "Obviously this is a very sensitive issue and we're cognizant of that and we're just trying to do our very best with the circumstances we have and the clientele that we have."

LeBlanc lives downtown and said she often walks in the area where Wednesday's overdose took place.

"It makes me sad," she said. "I look at these people and I say, 'What brought them here?' Probably in childhood they had issues maybe. How does somebody get there?"

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