Did John Rustad witness a fatal overdose before the B.C. leaders’ debate?

During the campaign, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad has repeatedly said people are “dying on the streets” in the province – and on Tuesday he claimed to have witnessed that very thing in downtown Vancouver while he was on his way to the leaders’ debate.

“I was on my way over here, and at the corner of Robson and Hornby (streets) there’s an individual who died, and there was emergency people rushing. This person died from an overdose. This is the British Columbia that David Eby has created,” Rustad said during the debate.

The BC Coroner’s Service, which investigates every overdose death in the province, told CTV News it is “not investigating a drug toxicity death” at that location Tuesday.

The first question Rustad was asked after the debate was about the story he told, and what exactly he saw. His answer began with an explanation of why he said what he said.

“I think it’s becoming commonplace in British Columbia for somebody to be on the street dead. And I think that’s wrong. British Columbia should not be accepting that as normal. I said that story at the beginning to emphasize that this is not normal,” he said, before moving on to a description.

“What I saw from out the window as I was looking down was this individual on the ground with emergency people pumping his chest and trying to bring him back to life and an ambulance coming up.”

Rustad did not elaborate – either during the debate or when asked afterward – on how he knew the person had used drugs or how he knew the person had died.

BC Emergency Health Services told CTV News it has “no records of any patient events on Oct. 8 with a location of Robson and Hornby Streets, or on the blocks immediately adjacent to that intersection.”

Rustad responds

In light of the information provided by the agencies that would have responded to a medical emergency like the one Rustad described, CTV News asked him about his anecdote again Wednesday.

“There was somebody who was lying on the sidewalk. There were some people who were performing CPR on them, trying to bring them back to life. An ambulance drove up with the sirens on, and of course, at that point we had left,” he said.

“Clearly, when somebody is doing CPR, that means they’re trying to bring somebody back to life. I hope they were successful in being able to do that, I really do.”

After being told that the coroners service has said no one did – in fact – die, Rustad said he would like to thank first responders for their life-saving work.

He also said incident was “disturbing” and “something unfortunately that we’re seeing far too often on streets across this province.” 

Rustad also addressed the issue on social media, in an account saying the incident happened at a different location and that the person did not die. 

Indoor overdose deaths far more likely

In the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 17 per cent of deaths from toxic drugs between 2021 and the end of July 2024 have been outside, according to the BC Coroner’s Service. The category “outside” includes streets and sidewalks but also vehicles, public parks, wooded areas and campgrounds. In contrast, 78 per cent happened indoors at homes or other residences.

Data from other health authorities reveals a similar trend, a percentage of outdoor deaths ranging from 15 to 20 per cent.

While six people a day are dying, on average, in 2024 – the annual rate of death from toxic drugs is “less than the annual rates in any of the past three years,” according to the coroner’s service. 

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Penny Daflos