{"id":42337,"date":"2022-07-19T20:30:51","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T20:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=42337"},"modified":"2025-02-03T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:30:16","slug":"fighting-shame-and-stigma-through-research","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/fighting-shame-and-stigma-through-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Shame and Stigma Through Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Fighting Shame and Stigma Through Research\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Student’s documentary film advocates for empathy in the face of Canada’s opioid crisis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Alyssa Tremblay<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her documentary film, student researcher Kayla Hagerty opens with a startling fact: in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada experienced an 89% increase in deaths caused by apparent opioid overdoses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This statistic is more than just a number to Hagerty, as her film \u2013 My Dad, Ian: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected the Pre-existing Opioid Epidemic in Canada<\/a> \u2013 centres around the sudden death of her stepfather, Ian Harrington, who died of an accidental drug overdose just three months into lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The loss led to Hagerty \u2013 then a B.A. student in Human Rights and Social Justice<\/a> and Sociology <\/a>at Carleton University \u2013 completely pivoting her studies toward researching Canada\u2019s opioid crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That research resulted in the creation of a three-hour home-movie-style documentary featuring interviews with people who use drugs, people who no longer use, and those working in the harm reduction community in Hagerty\u2019s hometown of Hamilton, Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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