A 13-year-old girl has tragically died of a suspected drug overdose while living in a homeless tent encampment in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Brianna MacDonald’s family says the girl was provided with drug paraphernalia by Fraser Health Authority, including needles and pamphlets on how to inject drugs.
MacDonald’s family made the story public in an effort to demand changes to the way the province and public health authorities treat minors with mental health and addictions problems. Her mother, Sarah MacDonald, told media that her daughter began smoking marijuana when she was 10, and using “molly” (MDMA) at the age of 12.
“I think a lot of the reasons she was doing the drugs was the mental health problems she was having, and she was trying to drown them with drugs,” she said. “She had such a hard life for such a little girl.”
Brianna was admitted to BC Children’s Hospital for a suspected drug overdose in February of 2024, and was subsequently moved to a pediatric psychiatric unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital. The family pleaded with hospital staff to certify Brianna as an involuntary patient, but they say the hospital refused — instead telling the family that the then 12-year-old was capable of making her own decisions. She was discharged from hospital against her family’s wishes.
Her mother told media that Brianna was not ready to leave the hospital: “I begged them not to let her leave. I mean, I begged them and so did her dad. And we tried really hard. We said she’s not mentally capable. She was sticking pencils through her hand when she was in the psych ward there,” she said.
MacDonald says her daughter was placed in a youth home several months later, due to a confluence of issues: Brianna had become violent; was using drugs in the presence of siblings; and she herself was hospitalized and not at home to monitor Brianna. She soon ran away from the group home and wound up homeless, in the Abbotsford tent encampment where she died. Her mother, who visited her regularly at the camp, described Brianna as both sweet and kind.
Fraser Health Authority has denied wrongdoing in the girl’s death, and claimed that Brianna’s care was “guided” by the Infants Act, which contains rules for “mature minors.” In a statement given to media, they claimed that they are investigating Brianna’s “care journey” so they can prevent such tragedies in the future. The health authority insinuated that their staff only provided Naloxone to Brianna, since no staff member had charted about providing her other harm reduction supplies like needles or pamphlets. The family says this is not true.
So-called “harm reduction” is a hot-button issue leading up to BC’s provincial election in October, with critics saying that BC has taken the initiative way too far. On their website, Fraser Health states: “Our harm reduction resources improve the health and wellness of individuals and their communities.” They list numerous locations where members of the public can access free paraphernalia for “safer injecting, safer smoking, and safer sex.” Items include needles, disposable drug cookers, tourniquets, glass crack pipes, condoms, and “hormone injection supplies.”
The province declared a public health emergency over its opioid overdose deaths in 2016. Deaths have only increased since then, despite growing access to harm reduction. In 2023, 2,511 persons died of overdoses in BC.
The leader of the Conservative Party of BC—and likely next premier of the province—expressed outrage on X, and called out the current New Democratic Party (NDP) premier, David Eby, on the failure to protect vulnerable persons.
“This is absolutely appalling. No child should be dying in an encampment in Abbotsford. David Eby’s Pivot Legal Society has fought involuntary care tooth and nail — now, people are fed up, so our radical NDP Premier is scrambling for an about-face. Too little, too late,” he posted.
