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OPTIMIST CHIEFS READY FOR ROCKETS AT PACIFIC CUP
Illusions of grandeur and grandeur in miniature
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Red Deer Advocate THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014
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PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION C CHANGES HAVE RED DEER DEER’S ADDICTS TURNING TO HER HEROIN FOR THEIR FIX — OFTEN W WITH FATAL RESULTS This is part one of three-part series on drugs in Red Deer. BY BRENDA KOSSOWAN ADVOCATE STAFF What was old is new again — and it’s killing people. Heroin is getting cheaper and stronger, there’s more around and users are making mistakes with their doses. “It’s out of control,” says Carl, a 20-year junkie who moved to Red Deer in an attempt to get clean
after Calgary police broke up his gang. So far, the 45-year-old father of seven is having limited success. Carl offered a glimpse into his world on a Monday afternoon, just hours after his most recent hit, while warming up and visiting friends at Berachah Place — a day shelter where people can drop in for coffee, a bite to eat and companionship. Born in England, Carl immigrated to Montreal with his family when he was in Grade 1. He doesn’t remember how he became addicted to heroin, only that he suffered from depression and turned to drugs to help mask his pain. He is among those watching helplessly as an ago-
nizing trend takes hold. Only three days had passed since the most recent incident of a fatal overdose among the group of regulars at Berachah Place. Changes in prescription medication have played a role in the rising use of heroin on the street, says Cpl. Len Larson, head of the Red Deer City RCMP’s street team. “They’ve changed the (formulation) so you have a hard time injecting them, and they’re slow release so you’re not getting your high like you used to,” says Larson.
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Commissioner awestruck by testimony BY MYLES FISH ADVOCATE STAFF
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION ‘THE WORK WE’VE DONE I THINK SETS US ON A REAL GOOD PATH TOWARDS RECONCILIATION. SO MY HOPE IS THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO RESTORE RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS AMONG EACH OTHER . . . AND THEN WITH THE Willie Littlechild NON-INDIGENOUS NEIGHBOURS AND INDEED THE REST OF THE COUNTRY .’ WEATHER
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Having spent 14 years at one, Willie Littlechild has always been familiar with Indian residential schools. Despite that personal experience, the Ermineskin band member and honourary chief of the Maskwacis Cree was often left awestruck during his nearly five years listening to the stories of other former residential school attendees through the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). “Personally I couldn’t believe — I knew it was there — but the depth of abuse that went on across the country in the schools was really significant in my view. It shocks me in a way that it still stays with me. There are some awful, awful tragic stories about what went on to children in these schools,” said Littlechild on Wednesday. He is one of three commissioners overseeing the TRC. The commission started its work in 2009, and in the intervening five years it has crisscrossed the country, providing forums for residential school survivors to share their stories and documenting what is revealed.
The seventh and final national event took place in Edmonton last week, an event Littlechild simply labelled “fantastic.” The commission has visited over 300 communities — including Red Deer last year — since the first event in Winnipeg in 2010, recording more than 6,000 statements made by former pupils. Over the next year, the commissioners will be tasked with compiling the recollections into a final report and making recommendations based on the hearings. No matter where the commission was in Canada, Littlechild said there were common threads; abuse, be it sexual, physical, mental or spiritual went on in every region of the country. The schools were tasked with “taking the Indian out of the child” and creating homogeny. During his own time at Ermineskin Indian Residential School, Littlechild recalls having to stay in at recess time to learn how to write right-handed. “I was perceived as being possessed by the devil. I heard that story over and over again from many (former) students who were left-handed who were severely impacted by that categorization,” said Littlechild, who served as the member of Parliament for the Wetaskiwin riding from 1988 to 1993.
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