Port Moody resident recognized by province with ‘good citizenship’ medal

Original story by the Tri-Cities Dispatch. Read here.

By: Hanna Hett

At the end of June, Chloe Goodison was in the thick of a school term and running her organization, the NaloxHome Society. 

Goodison had just finished some homework and was turning her attention to planning for a charity gala. The 23-year-old SFU student said she was feeling a bit burnt out with her workload.

Then she hit refresh on her inbox, and an email popped up from the provincial government. It congratulated her for being a recipient of the province’s Medal of Good Citizenship this year.

Goodison was surprised.

“I genuinely had no clue that I had been nominated, let alone selected. And it was just the perfect pick-me-up,” she said.

The B.C. Medal of Good Citizenship is one of the highest awards bestowed by the province, intended to recognize people who have contributed to the well-being of their communities.

Port Moody Coun. Samantha Agtarap nominated Goodison in 2024. While it wasn’t successful that year, they informed Coun. Agtarap that they would keep the information on file for 2025. The councillor told the Dispatch she was “really happy” when she heard Goodison received it this year.

“She’s a deserving winner of this medal,” Coun. Agtarap said. “I think she’s filling a niche with NaloxHome that wasn’t served very well by existing programs.”

NaloxHome is an educational organization that teaches youth about stigma, harm reduction, signs of an overdose and how to deliver naloxone — a medication that can short-term reverse an opioid overdose effects. It’s a peer-to-peer model, which Goodison says allows for more trust.

“A lot of youth ask their burning questions about substance use that are not always ones they feel comfortable asking a teacher or a counsellor,” she said.

When Coun. Agtarap first read through the nomination form — which included things like “shining example for us all” — she thought of Goodison immediately. She started collecting references.

“We need to get better at recognizing people when they do good things, and especially younger people,” Coun. Agtarap said.

A response to the toxic drug crisis

Growing up, Goodison said she had a misconception that drug use and overdoses didn’t occur in places like the Tri-Cities. But when she was in high school, she witnessed someone overdose on the SkyTrain.

“A girl who looked like someone who I would be friends with and someone I would play soccer with,” she said.

“It really challenged my bias of who is overdosing? Who’s using drugs? Where are overdoses occurring? The answer is, everyone, everywhere, all types of people.”

While everyone on the SkyTrain was trying to help the person who had overdosed, no one had the proper training to do so.

This sparked Goodison’s involvement with harm reduction and eventually led her to start NaloxHome to address the education gap she saw in schools.

Goodison founded the organization in 2021. As of 2025, it’s reached over 30,000 youth across the province. Since receiving a $50,000 grant in 2024, they’ve expanded their work beyond Metro Vancouver and into places like Victoria and Kelowna, with plans to target more rural areas.

“Really, our goal is to just effectively respond to the drug poisoning crisis — which is a public health emergency — and equip everyone with the tools to prevent, recognize and respond to overdoses,” said Goodison.

Since B.C. declared a toxic drug public health emergency in 2016, over 16,000 people have died.