Vancouver family that lost member to overdose donates $20M to recovery program

published on June 12, 2023 in CBC News

A Vancouver family known for its philanthropy is making a $20 million donation to a substance use treatment program in memory of a family member who died of an opioid overdose.

Jill Diamond, executive director of Vancouver’s Diamond Foundation, says her brother Steven Diamond could still be alive today if he had received the care being offered at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital.

“We’re speaking out today for the first time because we want to save lives,” said Jill Diamond in a statement. “No matter where we turned, we never found the help that Steven needed.”

Steven Diamond was 53 when he died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016. He died one week before a scheduled appointment to see an addiction psychiatrist after spending almost three months on a wait list.

The $20 million donation to the St. Paul’s Foundation will help fund the hospital’s Road to Recovery program, which aims to fill treatment gaps by cutting weeks off wait lists and providing supports to patients through a full spectrum of treatment services in one location…