Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country.

It's also the epicentre of a national illicit-drug overdose crisis that has claimed more that 13,000 lives since January 2016.

But today, those who work and volunteer at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre had something positive to share—a photo with Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, who dropped by to boost their spirits.

Since 1978 the centre has been providing a safe space for women and children—as well as counselling, hot meals, and basic necessities, such as feminine hygiene products and toiletries.

It also fights economic injustice and systemic discrimination.

And staff there were on the frontlines in drawing awareness to the dozens of missing and murdered women from the Downtown Eastside over the past few decades.

Markle, 38, was seen boarding a seaplane in Victoria earlier today, but no one expected her to show up at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre.

Her various appearances in B.C. are fuelling speculation that she and her husband, Prince Harry, may settle in B.C. now that the Queen has given them permission to live part-time in North America.