THE OVERDOSE CRISIS HERO

KPU’s 2022 Outstanding Young Alumni Award recipient had heard about the global overdose epidemic before coming to Canada as an international student in 2015, but Gurkirat Nijjar soon experienced the escalating crisis in B.C. firsthand. One night, while working at his then part-time job at a gas station, a person overdosed in the washroom.

“I felt helpless,” recalls Nijjar. “This was something in my mind that I should have the skills and the proper first aid to be able to help people if they overdose.”

Because of that experience, when he and his friends had the opportunity to receive training on overdose response and prevention through the South Asian Mental Health Alliance, they jumped at the chance.

“We thought, now we know how to respond to an overdose, but people are dying in the Lower Mainland, and people with language barriers and new immigrants do not know what drug supply is in our neighbourhoods. We thought maybe we should carry out informational sessions at different places in our community so that we can inform them and prepare them for emergency situations.”

That was the beginning of Students Overcoming Substance Use Disorder and Addictions Society of Canada, a grassroots initiative Nijjar founded in 2019 to provide outreach and training on overdose response and prevention to the South Asian communities in Surrey and Delta, which have been hit hard by the overdose crisis and drug toxicity.

“On weekends we go to places of worship, community events, speak to media – whatever we can do to spread the word and to end the stigma associated with overdose,” he explains. “We tell people about drug toxicity and provide them hands-on skills: how to use naloxone, how to give breaths, Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act and what to expect when they call 911.”

Nijjar and a team of volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to raise awareness in the community of the overdose crisis, while many were focused on COVID-19. They have offered training in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. In the coming months, they plan to start offering Spanish and Portuguese programs as well.

“People who use substances, at end of the day, they are our brothers and sisters, and they belong to our own society. I really believe that education is something which could be useful and using it for the betterment of humanity, that's the real meaning of education.”

Nijjar graduated from KPU in 2017 with an associate of science degree in biology and is now in his third year of a bachelor of science at UBC, majoring in chemistry. He is working on numerous research studies, including one focused on substance use patterns in international students and driving forces that push them into the cycle of addiction. Ultimately, his goal is to use his education to help his community find solutions to the crisis.

“I would like to be a clinical scientist, solving puzzles of addiction by combining neuroscience and chemistry together. That's what I see myself doing in future years.”

On top of his studies and his dedication to the overdose crisis, Nijjar is a coach, group leader and volunteer at Chimo Crisis Line, supporting crisis intervention. During the pandemic, he served as a bridge between KPU International Student Services and the South Asian COVID-19 Task Force to share COVID-19 related information and resources. He was also a Fraser Health SEHAT wellness ambassador and serves as a community outreach director at One Voice Canada. For his extensive volunteer work, Nijjar was recognized as one of Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 in 2020.

As a relative newcomer to the country, Nijjar has done more to contribute to his community than many have in their lifetime. He says a driving force in his life is his grandmother. “She always pushes me to be a better version of myself. She is a person whom I see whether I'm having a good day, or something is not working in my life. I always ask her for some of her wisdom.”

He also credits the KPU community for having a profound and lasting impact on his life. Nijjar stays in touch with many of his classmates and teachers, and attributes that close relationship to the intimate classroom environments, which he says fostered interaction between students and professors. That ongoing support, he says, makes receiving the Outstanding Young Alumni Award further motivation to do even more to make a difference.

“I am really humbled and thankful that the KPU Alumni Association recognized me,” he says. “Whenever I look at this award, it reminds me that it's a pledge I have given to KPU: that I will strive to work in future to make our communities healthier and safer.”

He also hopes his example motivates others to do their part in the escalating overdose and drug toxicity crisis. “I encourage everyone to save lives by getting trained in overdose response and how to use naloxone,” he says. 