A Show of Strength

I went with my sweetie last Friday to the rally in support of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre on Overdose Awareness Day Aug 31. There were probably 50 people in total there. The supporters were wearing purple and displayed purple ribbons. The detractors were wearing white. More on them later.

It was informal and formal at the same time. There were people sharing their personal experience of addictions. It was powerful and moving. How brave and strong they were and how they were loved and supported. I was especially touched by a grandmother and her granddaughter sharing about their loss of grandson and brother. A lady shared how a treatment centre saved her son and gave him his life back. A lady shared about her experience dealing with her employer the military and her lack of compassion with her addiction from her employer. All the shares brought me to tears. Listening to the shares afforded me the opportunity to forget about my own depression for a few minutes, however, I realized the powerful connection between mental health issues and addictions. They go hand in hand.

We are in the midst of a civic election campaign. We have 10 people running for mayor and only 2 candidates showed up to support. The 3 candidates running in the ward the proposed centre falls in were conspicous by their absence. Shameful, I know who gets my support for mayor.

Yes there was a small handful of people wearing white opposed to the facility. They were disrespectful when people were sharing by talking amongst themselves. One of the ladies wearing purple offered her chair to one of the white people who refused to sit in the chair as if it was infested with the plague or something.

A couple of the people sharing asked the opposers directly why they were opposed and were met with silence. One old gentleman just walked away waving his arms in frustration.  These opposers have supposedly hired a lawyer and have their provincial MLA as their spokesperson. However, neither bothered to show. Oh right, I forgot the MLA was too busy tweeting inappropriate responses about his former teacher.

There was a local TV station covering the event. The interviewer filmed the crowd, interviewed a man who recently lost his son and one of the opposers who was more than happy to be interviewed on TV however, was too afraid to address his opposition to the people supporting the centre. Shame on you CTV Winnipeg for giving this person a voice. What are you Fox News?

I am a proud supporter of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre and a proponent for creating an environment where mental health and addictions are not stigmatized.  Please support this facility and support good mental health. It is not an isolated problem. It is everyone's problem.

Build and support this facility.