Opinion: As British Columbians stand together on the National Day of Observance for those affected by COVID-19, our thoughts, our emotions, and our memories will be uniquely our own but we all share in the experience of them.

The Canadian flag flies over the Peace Tower in Ottawa at half mast to recognize the National Day of Observance for COVID. Photo by Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press

Today’s National Day of Observance and its moment of silence for those affected by COVID means something different for each one of us.

In B.C., over 5,200 people have died of COVID. For those of us who lost a loved one or friend to the pandemic, the days since have been marked by profound grief, deep sadness, and ongoing remembrance — of the life lost, the connections forever changed, and the unfolding of life with that person no longer with us.

For those who contracted COVID and experience ongoing health consequences because of it, the days since have been marked by challenge, frustration, and the constant awareness that the lives they are living are profoundly different and changed because of their encounter with the virus.

For those who work in health care — the frontline workers who have cared for COVID patients selflessly, tirelessly, and courageously throughout the pandemic — the days have been long, marked sometimes with improvement and recovery, but all too often with loss at the hands of a relentless, ruthless virus that preys upon the most vulnerable.

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For others, the pandemic has meant change — great change in routine, in the familiar, in the expected, and the normal — with the knowledge that whatever the changes, we, and the life we knew, will never be quite the same again.

None of us who lost a loved one or friend to COVID is alone.

None of us who is living with the consequences of contracting COVID is alone.

None of us who works in health care in the relentless fight to return to good health those with COVID is alone.

None of us living with the tumultuous change that COVID has brought to our lives is alone.

We are all, in our own way, in our own time, feeling, experiencing, and coming to terms with what COVID has done, and what it means. We are all dealing with what the pandemic means in our lives, and in the lives of those around us. In the community we call home, and in communities throughout B.C., COVID brought absence to all of our lives. None of us is alone in this.

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But the National Day of Observance for those affected by COVID offers us an important chance to affirm to ourselves and each other that in our grief, our sadness, our loss, and in the uncertainties created by the pandemic, we are together. The types and depth of emotions each of us feels may differ, but we all share in the experience of them.

How we demonstrate this connection, this togetherness, will be as individual as each of us. In standing together and observing a moment of silence to remember and honour all those in B.C. who have lost their lives because of COVID, our thoughts, our emotions, and our memories will be uniquely our own.

On this day and in this moment of silence, we may think of their families and friends. Of our families and friends. Of their loss, and ours.

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We may think of those who have had health complications because of COVID and the challenges faced in returning to the path of better health.

We may think about those in health care who continue to devote all their energies to getting us well, and the value to us all of our public health-care system that brings them together with so many resources when we are most in need.

We may think about the quiet but powerful honour each of us pays to the memory of those lost to COVID and to the lives of everyone in our province by getting our vaccinations and keeping up with our boosters.

We may just think.

But on this day, of all days, we can and should take some measure of comfort that we are taking this action, that we are taking this time and, most importantly, that we are doing it together.

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Because in the end, whether or not our losses have been profound because of COVID and have touched us personally, what made the difference for all of us in our B.C. pandemic was that we came together, stood together, acted together, and made a difference, together. That generosity, that empathy, and that willingness to stand together that we are again demonstrating today, will continue to make the difference that matters in our province, and in all of our lives.

If that is COVID’s legacy in our province, if that is the motivation it gives us, if that is the purpose into which we convert our grief and our loss, then we have done our very best in honouring all those whose lives were affected by COVID. And if that is the resolve that today’s National Day of Observance builds in each of us, our future is by far the better for it.

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Adrian Dix has been B.C. Health Minister since 2017 and is the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway.