The Community Edition: March 2017

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 6 • MARCH 2017

13

ONE PERSON

DIES EVERY

HOURS

FROM AN OPIOID-RELATED

OVERDOSE IN ONTARIO PAGE 11

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ILLUSTRATION

IN THIS

ISSUE

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 6

MARCH 2017

FEATURE

8-9 PLAYERS GOTTA PLAY (BASKETBALL)

INSIDE 3 4 6 7 10 11 12 12 13 13 14 14 15

IN BRIEF PREVENTING HARM, SAVING LIVES NOT YOUR GRANDPA’S KPL LIBRARIES, HOW DO THEY WORK? FIRST DRY HOUSE FOR WOMEN FENTANYL’S DEADLY DOUBLE EFFECT HORMONES MAKE YOU CRY QUAKING IN SILENCE KEEP TRAYNOR WALKABLE MANAGING CHRONIC PAIN RESOLUTIONS MADE TO BE BROKEN INDIAN-AFGHAN RESTAURANT DELIGHTS OONA MOON, CHAPTER FOUR COVER BY LAKYN BARTON

Volume 5, Issue 6 Next issue: April 5, 2017

General Inquiries info@communityedition.ca

75 University Ave. W Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5 519-884-0710 x3564

WLUSP ADMINISTRATION President Meghan Roach

All advertising inquiries should be directed to Care Schummer at 519-884-0710 x3560 care.schummer@wlusp.com

Executive Director Lakyn Barton

THE COMMUNITY EDITION TEAM Editor in Chief Jesse Bauman jesse.bauman@wlusp.com Publisher Lakyn Barton lakyn.barton@wlusp.com Social Media Editor Sarah Pouramn Web Manager Care Schummer care.schummer@wlusp.com TCE Radio Megan Nourse

Advertising Manager Care Schummer Treasurer John Pehar Vice-Chair Abdiasis Issa Directors Mynt Marsellus Maddy Cutts Matt Burley Corporate Secretary Taylor Berzins

CONTRIBUTORS Josh Barkman Elizabeth DiCesare Christopher Emory-Moore Ann Marie Gaudon Emily Gleeson James Gowland James Howe Stacey Jacobs Montana Mellett Seth Ratzlaff Eva Rucki Raminder Sahota Matt Smith Nick Stanley Dani Stock Cara Vandermey

WANT TO JOIN THE TEAM? INFO@COMMUNITYEDITON.CA

TWITTER @THECOMMUNITYED INSTAGRAM @COMMUNITYEDITION

The Community Edition is an alternative monthly intended to engage and inform the community.

Started in 2012, the Community Edition is an editorially independent newspaper published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. WLUSP is governed by its board of directors.

Opinions expressed within the Community Edition are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial board, The Cord, WLUSP, WLU or Centra Web. All content appearing in the Community Edition bears the copyright expressly of their creator(s) and may not be used without written consent.

The Community Edition is a member of the Ontario Press Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns.

For additional information or to file a complaint, contact info@ontpress.com or call 416-340-1981.

Preamble to the Community Edition Constitution The Community Edition will keep faith with its readers by presenting news and expressions of opinions comprehensively, accurately and fairly. The Community Edition believes in a balanced and impartial presentation of all relevant facts in a news report, and of all substantial opinions in a

matter of controversy.

The staff of the Community Edition shall uphold all commonly held ethical conventions of journalism. When an error of omission or of commission has occurred, that error shall be acknowledged promptly.

When statements are made that are critical of an individual, or an organization, we shall give those affected the opportunity to reply at the earliest time possible. Ethical journalism requires impartiality, and consequently conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest will be avoided by all staff. The only limits of any newspaper are those of the world around it, and so the Community Edition will attempt to cover its world with a special focus on the community of Waterloo Region.

Ultimately, the Community Edition will be bound by neither philosophy nor geography in its mandate.

The Community Edition has an obligation to foster freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This obligation is best fulfilled when debate and dissent are encouraged, both in the internal workings of the paper, and through the Community Edition’s contact with the community. The Community Edition will always attempt to do what is right, with fear of neither repercussions, nor retaliation. The purpose of community press is to act as an agent of social awareness, and so shall conduct the affairs of our magazine.

MARCH 2017 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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IN BRIEF

Two members of the KW Titans basketball team were indefinitely suspended after a post-game fight with players from the Saint John Riptides, in Saint John, N.B on Feb. 23. For unrelated coverage of the Titans, turn to the centre of this paper. NICK STANLEY PHOTO

Do you think these briefs are funny? Do you think they should be funnier? Do you think humour is an inappropriate response to the tragic and farcical nature of modern existence? Email info@communityedition.ca if you would like to be Senior Briefs Editor. MATT SMITH PHOTO

NEWS

ARTS

URBAN

HURRY UP AND WAIT FOR LRT

ARTS GROUPS GET SOME MONEY

INTERNATIONAL ESCAPE ROOM

The first LRT car arrived in the region late February, after taking the scenic route. Coming from Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant, complete inspection of the car started the first week of March. Test runs start in June or July. The other 13 cars are coming from Kingston, and the public is not allowed to sneak a peek until April.

The Coalition of Muslim Women of KW is one of four groups to receive funding through the Ontario150 Community Celebration Program. The Coalition will use their $10,000 to showcase Muslim women’s artists. Neruda Arts received $22,000 for its Kultrun World Music Festival, to present immigrant and indigenous stories.

First class puzzle pioneers from Laurier have been chosen to imprison the best of the best in the world’s first “escape room” championship. Three students and their professor created a unique series of entanglements and tasks they hope will stump teams from around the world.

The showdown happens live on TV, Mar. 25, in Budapest.

WHAT DO WHITE MEN THINK?

ION ART LOOKS VERY SMART

DON’T CROSS THE GARBAGE PEOPLE

Conservative party leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary said recently that he supports LGBTQ and women’s rights. His 24-year-old daughter said she would campaign against him if he didn’t advocate for her generation and their right to make their own decisions. O’Leary admits that he cannot achieve a majority without the youth vote.

What do you think he thinks?

Ten works of art have been commissioned so far to appear at certain ION stops along the LRT path. A public art jury, hopefully considering the over 2,070 comments from the community, decided which artists would be on permanent exhibit along the route. Seven of the canvases will be on display during the 2018 commencement of the LRT. Transit can be beautiful, too.

Looking to illegally dump that futon/fishtank/bathtub on your neighbour’s lawn after exams/ going to IKEA? Think again.

Waterloo Region is cracking down on waste creators with a $300 fine if caught. By-law officers may soon be able to issue tickets on the spot, as garbage trucks will be around less often to pick up your trash, having recently switched to a bi-weekly schedule.

HABITAT KEEPS BUILDING HOMES

ART AS CLIMATE ACTIVISM IN KW

NO FAKE FOOD AT DTK MARKET

Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region is set to begin constructing homes with two families this spring. After receiving donations reaching $115,000, and with the help of over 200 volunteers, Habitat — and the families that will eventually own the homes — will build the two residences in the township of Wellesley. Fundraising is ongoing for these projects.

Julie Sperling is a mosaicist and Kitchener’s 2017 artist in residence, a platform she hopes to use to create conversations about climate change and environmental stewardship. She told council that, using her art “as a touchstone,” she hopes to get people to “commit to taking at least one action to reduce their climate impact and/or increase their climate resilience.”

Worried that your February avocadoes were not, in fact, fresh and local? Worry no more, or at least don’t worry while you’re at the downtown Kitchener farmer’s market. The market is now using the MyPick verification program, run by Farmers’ Markets Ontario, to verify that sellers are actually selling what they say they’re selling, whether that’s about location, date of harvest, or organic-ness.

OUT OF THE WHEY HONOURING ROBERT LINSEY CHEESE HEIST

ST. PATRICK’S DAY IN STYLE

Beware that pile of really tasty cheese on kijiji. Someone stole 145 kg of cheddar, havarti, gouda and curds out of the Village Cheese Mill’s walk-in cooler in Oxford Township, late February.

The fromage is worth an estimated $6,200, and if it hasn’t already been fenced, we assume there is a fantastic poutine-party going on somewhere in Ontario.

As you (might) prepare to pour a drink in honour of St. Patrick, remember that there are families and cultures in the community who do not celebrate as immensely as others. Emergency services, R.I.D.E. programs, and neighbourhood watch will all be in full effect, so be sure to eat, hydrate and represent your community in a healthy fashion.

The esteemed local artist Robert Linsey died on Feb. 2 after he was struck from behind while riding his bicycle in Waterloo.

Linsey is survived by his partner and three children, and is fondly remembered as a highly accomplished and innovative artist, writer and person, who made various invaluable contributions to this region.

BY JAMES GOWLAND

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NOTES FROM THE GROUND

HARM REDUCTION DOCTORS SAY IT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO GET THE PERSON WHO’S ADDICTED TO SURVIVE THAN GET THEM INTO ABSTINENCE RIGHT AWAY

SETH RATZLAFF CONTRIBUTOR Several years ago, after retiring from his family practice, Dr. George Berrigan joined a medical care team organized by a local non-profit organization in downtown Kitchener. The team collaborates with street outreach workers to serve people in Kitchener who struggle with homelessness and substance use. More often than not, this struggle is concurrent with mental health issues.

Berrigan admits that, in his bygone practice, he was ill-prepared to treat this demographic. He also admits he wouldn’t have been able to do it without the nurse who came with him from his family practice. Her name is Evelyn, and she is usually the first to greet the patients, exuding care and calmness. She is spunky, a quick-wit who, according to the doctor, “runs the show.”

I spoke with Berrigan to better understand his perspective on harm reduction.

“The concept in harm reduction is: it’s more important to get the person who’s addicted to survive than get him into abstinence right away. And so the reality of harm reduction is primarily dealing with the problems as you [encounter] them as efficiently as you can, accepting the fact that you can’t cure the addiction immediately and in some cases maybe never. But you can reduce the harm.”

He explains that contextual factors are especially important for this approach, referring to a landmark epidemiological study by Dr. Vincent Felitti that determined a link between adverse childhood experiences and adult health issues. One of Felitti’s major findings was that problematic adult substance use is highly related to experiences of trauma as a child.

“That impressed me a lot,” Berrigan reflects. “This whole idea of adverse childhood experiences being such a strong cause of addiction and mental health issues, and that’s a concept I hadn’t appreciated at all. And I also hadn’t appreciated the extent of childhood adversity that goes on in our society.”

He learned about the study from a book called In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, the family doctor who worked with people struggling with addictions on the downtown eastside of Vancouver.

Unlike abstinence-based help pro-

grams, the harm reduction approach tries to reduce the harm caused by addiction before complete abstinence is achieved.

“The goal of abstinence is not wrong,” he points out, “but [people with substance use problems] must be allowed to reach stable recovery at [their] own pace, appropriate to [their] personal abilities and psychosocial circumstances. Coercive methods [used] to achieve abstinence early usually set [them] up for failure. The road to addiction recovery consists of multiple relapses and defeats. Even if you don’t get them abstinent, you can get them shelter, in touch with family, all the feasible possible outcomes.”

Harm reduction recognizes that mental health and addiction are not problems happening in a vacuum. It looks “at the whole picture and makes the best choices about the situation.”

He adds, “harm reductionists are accepting that the patient is not going to get to abstinence quickly, that they need the support of us in as many ways as we can.”

When Berrigan got started in harm reduction, he was admittedly an amateur.

“I had very limited training in mental health,” he says, “and no training in addiction. Like most family doctors in Canada I was inadequately trained and prepared to manage addiction problems.”

“But I was motivated to reach out and connect with these marginalized and stigmatized people, and refrain from trying to control or coerce them.”

The approach presumes that real change is something that must come from the inside, and one of the key tools of harm reduction is the art of breaking down big issues into small, “solvable” pieces: “you have to give them the means of accomplishing what you’re motivating them to do.

You build their self-esteem by making them try to do things that you know they can do, immediately. Don’t keep trying to make them fail all the time.”

Transitioning to a harm reduction approach is not easy. It requires a whole new attitude, one that goes against our habitual ways of thinking and relating to others. It is, as Berrigan says, “anti-perfectionism.”

Berrigan thinks addiction and mental health issues are still poorly understood by the medical community. And he argues it is an issue that will not be solved by medical science alone. This kind of disease affects everyone. The answer must be community-based, informed by scientific research.

“The service has to be selfless to be effective. You have to be considerate.

You have to be respectful. You have to be kind. You have to be compassionate. And you have to be consistent.

You have to keep at it. The real answer to the type of work we’re doing is that it has to be a commitment.” Harm reduction recognizes that the recovery journey is full of defeat, pain and suffering — but also healing.

“Recovery isn’t a static state,” he says.

“Recovery is an ongoing battle. It’s something you keep alive in you.”

Addiction is a strange kind of disease because it is not cured in the same way that, say, pneumonia is cured. Rehabilitation in addiction is never truly complete; it is merely the beginning of an unending healing journey. Berrigan believes it is only possible with the support of a community.

“You have to engage them in a form of respect and kindness and compassion,” he says. “It’s day-by-day. It’s step-by-step. But it’s frontline. It’s grassroots. It’s person to person. The effectiveness of this work is at the grassroots, one-on-one, day after day, hanging in there. It’s boring sometimes. It’s frustrating. It’s annoying.

But it’s how it has to be done.”

Consequently, much is demanded of people who wish to practice a harm reduction approach.

First, they must confront that all-too-human tendency of being judgmental.

“The non-judgmental effect we’re looking for in harm reduction is an ideal. It’s not a reality. Gradually as time goes on we must stop being judgmental and say, ‘This is the reality, now what can I do with it?’” This is the art of balancing commitment and detachment.

Harm reductionists learn to think of themselves as equal to those around them, walking with those who have living problems and being ready to support them when they so choose. It is a matter of attitude, of being trustworthy and relational.

Just having the most up-to-date knowledge on addiction is not enough.

Berrigan says that if “you really can’t convince them that you care, you’re not going to be effective.”

“To participate in this work is not just to keep giving,” he encourages, “but to see the wisdom in the old Native saying: ‘Everything sacred moves in a circle.’ In other words, you’re not just giving out; it’s coming back.” In harm reduction, help is circular, not one-directional.

“Good humanitarian work is sincere, strong, steady, and mostly silent,” he says, and “one step at a time, day by day, little by little becomes a whole lot.”

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Dr. George Berrigan says that “it’s more important to get the person who’s addicted to survive than get him into abstinence right away. And so the reality of harm reduction is primarily dealing with the problems as you [encounter] them as efficiently as you can, accepting the fact that you can’t cure the addiction immediately and in some cases maybe never. But you can reduce the harm.” SETH RATZLAFF PHOTO

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“We’re really trying to change the definition of literacy,” says KPL CEO Mary Chevreau. “It’s not just print literacy ... it is digital, it’s print, it’s music, it’s art, it’s dance.” MATT SMITH PHOTO

KPL IS NOT YOUR GRANDPA’S PUBLIC LIBRARY

NEW STRATEGIC PLAN CHARTS AMBITIOUS PLANS TO IMPROVE DIGITAL LITERACY AND ACCESSIBILITY ACROSS CITY

ELIZABETH DICESARE CONTRIBUTOR When you think about the Kitchener Public Library, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? If it’s a quiet building filled with books, you probably haven’t visited the KPL in a while.

“We really are changing from a sort of passive content repository to a creative-based institution,” said Mary Chevreau, KPL’s CEO. “The one thing about libraries is they’re always changing and always evolving.”

In January, KPL released their new strategic plan, where they outlined new programs and expansions on pre-existing services within the community. This plan, which will continue until 2020, is focused on four goals: working together, fostering belonging, igniting community conversations and fostering bold leadership. They’re focused on so much more than helping you find a great book to read.

“There are so many longstanding values to public library work, and a lot of things we hold dear and have for a long time, like inclusion, access, belonging, community partnerships.

Then there are things that are changing as well,” explained Megan Clare, Manager of Strategic Planning and Projects. “I think sometimes when we think about our role … we know that we are many different things to many different people. People look for different things in the library and people interact with us in different ways.”

For some, the library continues to be a quiet space to curl up with a book, but for others it has become a creative hub for designing, building, inventing, exploring and accessing new hands-on learning programs and activities. The new strategic plan aims to embrace all of these facets of the library, and ensure that everyone is able to access information that they want and need.

KPL’s 2017 business plan includes expanding Studio Central (a hands-on digital media lab), curating a collection of musical instruments that can be borrowed, and once LRT is up and running, launching an ION Reads

campaign that will utilize public transit as a medium for marketing the KPL’s e-book and digital magazine collections.

“I really do see value in the way in which the strategic plan articulates our longstanding and ongoing values and priorities,” Clare said.

However, these values and priorities are always changing based on new and emerging trends and demand from the general public. A large portion of the new strategic plan is focused on expanding access to, and a general understanding of, digital literacy.

“We value print literacy … but increasingly, digital literacy is important,” Clare explained. “Digital literacy does speak in a pretty important way to our mandate around inclusion and making sure that everyone has access to technology.”

Digital inclusion and digital literacy are huge issues in the region, and KPL is leading the way to make resources and knowledge available and accessible to the public.

“I think the value of community space where people engage is big. I also think there is a lot of conversation

around hands-on learning and creating, and not just passive learning,” she continued.

“We’re really trying to change the definition of literacy,” echoed Chevreau. “It’s not just print literacy, it’s much larger than that, and so I think that is part of our message going forward: it is digital, it’s print, it’s music, it’s art, it’s dance, it’s sort of more the renaissance definition of literacy opposed to what we think of as an educational literacy.”

Many of KPL’s newer programs, such as their guest librarian, social-worker-in-residence, Lightbrary initiative, and Studio Central may seem innovative in terms of what a traditional library is, but to KPL they aren’t.

According to Clare, these initiatives are simply filling in gaps, and still align with KPL’s priorities of providing access to information, and offering an accessible, inclusive space where people can actively learn.

These programs offer the ability “to maintain our roots, but also be open to new directions and new opportunities,” she explained. “Some of those initiatives, like the guest librarian and

the therapy lamps, are around that sense of community conversation, and sharing ideas, talking about healthy cities [and] talking about mental health, and so I think that some of the initiatives built on our role as a strong community partner, and a gathering space, and a place for community conversation.”

While KPL may have some difficulty in finding a balance between all of their different programs, they are successfully catering to multiple audiences while constantly expanding and remaining relevant.

“People are starting to notice us in a different way,” said Chevreau.

KPL is no longer a place where you go to only find new books. It is also a place to meet friends for coffee, play virtual reality games, 3D print your latest designs and see live concerts.

Their new strategic plan should bolster these programs while adding more for the public to experience. So if you haven’t been to KPL in a while, now is the perfect time to check it out.

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Sharron Smith (right) manages the team in charge of acquiring new materials for the Kitchener Public Library system. MATT SMITH PHOTO (LEFT) AND COURTESY SHARRON SMITH

THE SECRET STATISTICAL LIVES OF LIBRARIANS

KPL’S CIRCULATION MANAGER TELLS TCE HOW KITCHENER’S LIBRARIES FILL UP THEIR SHELVES AND SERVERS

ELIZABETH DICESARE CONTRIBUTOR I’ve always romanticized the idea of being a librarian. In my mind, librarians get to hang out in buildings filled with books, spend their days reading books and talking about books, and, most importantly, make their living off of being a book nerd. That’s what really happens when you sign up to be a librarian, right?

Not quite, according to Sharron Smith, manager of bibliographic services at the Kitchener Public Library (KPL), who crushed my idealized notions.

“It is sadly a myth; librarians do not get to read on the job,” she told me with a laugh. “If I find that job, I’m going with it.”

Smith and her team are in charge of acquiring new materials for KPL’s collection: everything from new books

to DVDs, magazines and more.

“We’re big on stats,” she explained.

“Librarians love stats, and we’re constantly analyzing how the collections are being used.”

Who would have guessed that librarians spend most of their time analyzing statistics regarding which books are popular? Not me. As an avid book fiend, this took me by surprise, but after chatting with Smith it all began to make sense.

“We want to know where the trends are,” she continued. “We want to know where to place our emphasis.”

“Demand continues to be very strong for e-books, with thrillers and mysteries in the highest demand as specific genres. We are also continuing to see strong interest in audiobooks, both the physical format as well as e-audio,” she explained. “We are [also] seeing increasing interest in our print book collections, [which is] not really surprising as users consistently say that they love the access that libraries provide to books.”

Choosing materials to add to the library’s collection isn’t exactly easy.

Smith and her team need to constantly know which new releases are on the way, which genres are currently in demand, and which library branches are in need of which specific materials.

They also have to be aware of what the collection already contains to ensure that the materials are diverse, appropriate, and reflect subjects and opinions that the public are interested in.

While this may seem like a daunting task, there is one seriously awesome perk: advanced copies of unreleased books. In order to know if new books are worth adding to the library’s collection, Smith and her team are able to read books before they’re officially published. If that doesn’t make you want to become a librarian, I don’t know what will.

Smith expressed gratitude for the resources that allow them to purchase a wide variety of items for the library’s collection.

“We’re very, very fortunate that the city supports this library so well,” she said. “We do try to offer the broadest selection possible; however, budgets

are not infinite and decisions have to be made.”

While some might think that support for, and general use of libraries, is declining, they couldn’t be more wrong. Despite the rise of technology, Smith emphasized that she, along with other librarians at KPL, embrace new trends and find ways to integrate them into the library’s collection and overall operations.

Public input regarding the library’s collection is always welcome. Anyone can go online and make recommendations, which Smith and her team receive and review.

“We get, between fiction and nonfiction, and also multi-media, so DVDs and that kind of thing, we get hundreds of those a week,” she explained.

“We go through those every week, and if an item meets our collection criteria, then we will certainly consider it for ordering.”

If an item is available, well-reviewed, and accurate in representing information, it’s fair game to be added to the library’s collection. Smith emphasized that the KPL is very open-minded and

respectful of all opinions, so a wide variety of materials are available for the public.

“That’s what it’s all about: providing people with what they want,” she continued.

“We’re very customer-focused, and I think some people don’t always realize that, but that’s the whole reason that we do everything that we do, in order to meet the needs of the community,” Smith said. “We’re really passionate, and we really want [the public] to know what it is that we have, and also to know that the library staff really are experts, and we are here to help you find your next great read.”

While Smith may not get to spend her days reading, her passion for books is clearly evident. And after a mere 40 minutes in her office — which, yes, is packed with books — she revolutionized my understanding of what a librarian does: they possess all-powerful literary knowledge, and ultimately want to share that passion with the public.

PLAYERS

GOTTA

PLAY

On June 28, 2016, the National Basketball League of Canada announced a new franchise in southern Ontario: the KW Titans. The team plays across Ontario and eastern Canada, including 20 regular season home games at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Perhaps better known as the home of the Kitchener Rangers hockey team, the Aud undergoes a substantial transformation before every Titans home game. City staff typically start the conversion process around 8 p.m., working into the early hours of the morning to install the professional grade court. The Titans’ record was eight wins, 12 losses at the time of printing, putting them roughly in the middle of the league. More images of the Aud’s transformation online, at communityedition.ca.

NICK STANLEY PHOTOS

MARCH 2017 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

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NEW DRY HOUSE AIMS TO BE A WARM, SAFE HUG

VERA’S PLACE EXTENDS SUPPORT AND PROVIDES STABLE HOUSING FOR UP TO ONE YEAR FOR LOCAL WOMEN SEEKING SOBRIETY

DANI STOCK CONTRIBUTOR Ten years ago, Reverend Bruce Sweet and church member Karen Dixon stood in the parking lot of Emmanuel United Church in Waterloo, gazing at the crumbling house next door.

They never would have guessed that their vision to breathe new life into a rundown church property on Dorset Street would be realized, with last month’s grand opening of Vera’s Place, a transitional supportive residence for women recovering from substance abuse.

Vera’s Place houses six residents at a time after they participate in a treatment program called ALcontrol. Run by the House of Friendship, ALcontrol provides a supportive drug- and alcohol-free residence for four to 10 weeks for women recovering from addiction.

Each year, around 25 women exit ALcontrol programs with nowhere to live. Vera’s Place helps fill the gap, allowing residents up to a full year to get on their feet in a safe, sober space.

“It is impossible to address any problem unless you have stable housing.

You can’t address addictions or anything really because it becomes more about survival,” says Sweet, explaining the importance of Vera’s Place.

Once women have stable housing, and the continued programming provided by ALcontrol, it becomes possible to focus on recovery and other longer-term goals.

Standing in the doorway to Vera’s Place today, with its lovingly finished rooms, meticulous attention to detail and warm decor, one finds no trace of the century home’s recent dilapidation. And that’s all thanks to thousands of hours of volunteer time and over $500,000 in community donations.

“If you step back and look at it, it’s really an amazing thing that the people took on and accomplished,” says Sweet. “Without that, none of this could’ve happened.”

Since being sold to the church in the 1970s for one dollar, the converted duplex served a number of functions, including youth group meetings and Sunday school. Eventually, it was rented to various tenants connected to the church.

But Emmanuel United struggled to

keep the aging house liveable. By the time the City of Waterloo introduced a new licensing system for rented dwellings, Sweet decided it would be best to repurpose the church’s prime uptown real estate, rather than get it up to code.

“I started calling around asking every helping agency if they needed space for anything. As soon as we gave up, the phone rang from The Working Centre,” who, in partnership with the House of Friendship, wanted to create a dry house for women.

A few dry houses for men have existed in the region since 2014, but support for women recovering from addiction is harder to find. The existing residences are not safe for women who are also often healing from experiences of abuse, explains Dixon.

After forming a committee and getting the decision through the Emmanuel United Church board of directors, the real challenge lay before them: “to gut a 110-year old house and then start over!” Sweet exclaims.

Designated a heritage home by the city, the aging behemoth had no insulation and original windows that needed replacing, along with a whole host of issues that would have made it easier to tear down and start from

scratch.

“We were a group of eight amateurs — enthusiastic amateurs, but amateurs. And we didn’t have any expertise in fundraising, we didn’t have any expertise in building things,” says Dixon about the Vera’s Place committee.

Their first major triumph came when they found their anchor donors — Bob and Judy Astley, who generously contributed $100,000 to the project in honour of Judy’s mother Vera, with the request that the home be named after her.

They soon found a general contractor in Jamie Oliver (“not the chef,” laughs Sweet), who brought in tradespeople willing to donate their time and also construction materials.

Alongside $325,000 in cash donations, the project’s success rode on over $200,000 of donated materials, including insulation, drywall and new windows.

Interior designer Julia Correia “just worked and worked and worked,” Dixon says with a grin. Beginning last June, she tirelessly sourced “previously loved” furnishings and decor to be refinished. Correia’s attention to the project shines through each space, including the unique design of all six

bedrooms.

From quilts donated by the Waterloo County Quilters’ Guild to hundreds of hours of painting time volunteered by church and community members, Vera’s Place emerged as a true expression of community.

Dixon believes the community’s eagerness to support a dry house for women reflects the prevalence of the issue.

“I was shocked at how many people in my circle […] had an alcoholic mother, aunt, sister, wife. Or someone who was abusive of drugs. So the issue touches many more families than I had realized. I think that’s a big part of it,” she says.

Reflecting on the accomplishment of Vera’s Place as a nurturing space for healing and independence, both Dixon and Sweet are heartfelt.

“I want this space to feel like a hug.

We worked really hard to make it feel like it was comfortable. Not just basic — beautiful, and very welcoming,” Dixon explains.

Vera’s Place welcomed its first resident on Feb. 15. The committee continues to accept monetary donations, as well as gifts through the Vera’s Place registry at Canadian Tire.

Inside Vera’s Place, a new “dry” residence for local women seeking sobriety.

PHOTOS COURTESY EMMANUEL UNITED CHURCH

MARCH 2017 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

EVERY 13 HOURS, AN OPIOID DEATH

EXPERTS SAY THAT A PREDICTABLE AND PREVENTABLE CRISIS IS UNFOLDING BEFORE OUR EYES

MONTANA MELLETT COLUMNIST A predictable and preventable crisis is unfolding before our eyes in Ontario, where one person dies every 13 hours from an opioid-related overdose. This crisis was the focus of a recent evening of programming at the Kitchener Public Library, where public health researchers, community mental health and addictions workers and documentarians gathered to educate and to open the minds and hearts of community members.

Violet Umanetz, a registered social service worker at Sanguen Health Centre hosted a free training on overdose prevention and intervention to start the evening. In her 40-minute workshop she shared about how to recognize the symptoms of, and respond to an opioid overdose, and handed out over 90 naloxone kits to participants. Naloxone temporarily reverses an opioid overdose.

Much of the rest of the evening focused on how future attempts to respond to this crisis should prioritize the lived experiences of people using drugs, and on the importance of de-stigmatizing drug use.

Larissa Ziesmann is currently a peer health worker at the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre, where she works closely with people struggling with their mental health and addictions. On the topic of stigma, Ziesmann, who abused opiates for 15 years, said that “we pass by people who may look a little more raggedy than we do and we have this instant judgement, [but] other people can feel that. If you saw me two years ago you would have no idea, I was a totally different person.”

“I could feel that [stigma], and it makes everything a little bit more difficult,” she added.

Ziesmann’s words were echoed by Allison Tierney, who produced the documentary DOPESICK that also screened at the KPL. “This is the real moral deficiency related to drug use: It’s not necessarily those doing drugs; it’s those who judge someone’s use of substances without knowing what they’ve gone through in life.”

DOPESICK follows the lives of people in Alberta using and/or affected by bootleg fentanyls: a non-pharmaceutical, high-dose opioid that is being added into a variety of substances, often without the knowledge of the consumer. The documentary provides a glimpse into a world of substance use many of us hear about but never

witness, and makes an alarming case for the ways our health care system and society discriminates against folks who use drugs.

Indeed, many have taken to calling bootleg fentanyl’s emergence a crisis within a crisis. In the days following the event at the KPL I talked with Michael Parkinson, from the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council.

“In Ontario there’s been more than 7,000 opioid deaths in 15 years. SARS had 44 deaths across Canada total and the response was so different.

Anaphylaxis [has caused] 92 deaths in 25 years in Ontario. And it’s still a struggle to get Naloxone distributed.

Epinephrine [is] no problem,” said Parkinson.

“It’s a crisis not a spectator sport, and despite the words like emergency and crisis and epidemic being thrown around the response has been anything but,” Parkinson added, before wondering aloud why it’s being left to politicians without any training in health or medicine to make the kinds of decisions that they do around policies and programs.

Tierney said that childhood trauma is a major root cause of addiction, and that part of the reason why we have problems with addiction in our society is our lack of mental health care.

Gabor Mate, a retired physician who worked in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, has also written about how opioids soothe pain — and so are especially attractive to someone who has suffered childhood trauma.

Here Ziesmann added that, while “treatment is necessary, less wait times is definitely necessary but housing as well, you cannot be expected to make it for an appointment if you aren’t housed – if your appointment is a two month wait when you are on the street: good luck.”

What else do we need to do as a community, and what is necessary to combat society’s own addiction of looking down on those in the margins?

Of course, the next steps are really up to you. Those I spoke with suggest moving forward with harm reduction training at schools and workplaces.

Write to your local politicians saying you’re cool with having safe injection sites and harm reduction programs in your community. There’s a lot of stigma, and it needs to be addressed publicly. We need to start seeing naloxone in bars, nightclubs, and concert venues. It should be in first aid kits.

Obviously controversial, legalizing drugs should improve their quality, and save some of those one-every13-hours overdose victims. Finally, confront stereotypes when you hear people say nasty things about people who use drugs.

11

OVERDOSE DEATHS PER 100,000 INDIVIDUALS COMPARED TO DEATHS

BY MOTOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS IN WATERLOO REGION 7 5 3 1 2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

DRUG OR DRUG + ALCOHOL OVERDOSE OPIOID OR OPIOID + ALCOHOL OVERDOSE MOTOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS

COURTESY THE WATERLOO REGION CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL USING DATA FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CORONER OF ONTARIO AND THE ONTARIO MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

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MARCH 2017 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

12

WAITING FOR THE TOUCH OF SOMETHING BEYOND

TCE’S SEEKER-IN-CHIEF SPENDS SOME TIME WITH THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS AT A QUAKER MEETING define that word,” the booklet read.

The spontaneous minister reflected Back in the kitchen over snacks and rather than by cradle. As they SEEKER’S CORNER choice on the spiritual significance of this I breathed deep, followed the traffic coffee, a man named Peter told me commenced shuffling from the den

CHRISTOPHER EMORY-MOORE COLUMNIST Late last summer I attempted to describe in these pages a communal silence that transpires every Sunday morning at a local Buddhist community. Late this January I stepped into another spiritual community’s Sunday morning silence, this time at the Kitchener branch of the Religious Society of Friends, otherwise known as Quakers.

In the bustling foyer of a stately brick house on Frederick Street, I met my first Quaker: a tall elder named Chris who was all gentle smiles and hearty nods. When I introduced myself as a roaming religion junkie he told me that most folks here had come by

and kitchen to the meeting room, another smiling Quaker named Daniel asked me if I knew what to expect. I shook my head and he gave me a small booklet to peruse during the coming silence.

“You’ll know when it’s over when someone shakes your hand,” he said.

Waterloo Buddhists meet to meditate. Kitchener Quakers meet to listen.

One by one we entered the meeting room and sat in chairs lining plain walls – 20 people, a few potted plants, the faint sound of traffic outside, and a silence that quickly enveloped us all.

I opened the booklet in my lap: “If pressed to say what they are actually doing in a meeting for worship, many Quakers would probably say they are waiting – waiting in their utmost hearts for the touch of something beyond their everyday selves.

Some would call it ‘listening to the quiet voice of God’ – without trying to

sounds, surveyed the faces, laps, and toes across the room, and slowly, inexorably started to relax.

My gaze returned to the tract in my lap: “The silence deepens to a stillness, and as you wait in fellowship with the others, you enter a state not only of peace, but of inspiration. We each respond in our own way, but our responses are drawn together into a unity. It is out of such a “gathered” unity, at a depth beyond thought or feeling, that spoken ministry arises.”

About twenty minutes into the meeting, it arrived. A young man spoke passionately about parallels between recent research confirming the enhanced neural integration of Buddhist meditators and the words of Jesus, who in Matthew says, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.”

correspondence: “If we just breathe, breathe in the new, breathe new life, the self will not survive. It will be forced to change, to die, and be reborn.”

After a few minutes of contemplative digestion, a woman beside me opened a long personal anecdote with the statement, “I’ve had a hard week,” and concluded with the words, “the truth is imperfect, but we must seek it nonetheless.” And then quiet.

Eventually, out of the now familiar silence came the verse of an old hymn in a woman’s low lilt: Peace is flowing like a river Flowing out of you and me Flowing out into the desert Setting all the captives free And then quiet. Another woman spoke, and another woman sang. And the hour was marked when my neighbour reached for a handshake, and a soft “good morning.”

how he came to this community a few years back from an experience of his own cradle tradition’s spiritual shallowness. We both acknowledged an ineffable gravitas in the silence we’d just shared. After telling me about his growing interest in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition of Candomblé, he described the Quaker affiliation ethos as amounting to respect for each other and for each others’ differences.

“About the only thing you couldn’t be here is a fundamentalist,” he said.

Just before noon a single voice rose above the rest: “Friends, it’s time to meet!” The Religious Society of Friends shuffled back into the meeting room for round two, meeting for business, to which I was warmly invited.

I slipped out the front door instead, savouring an inward trace of Quaker quietude.

Some of the Religious Society of Friends — Quakers — gather in silence most Sundays in Kitchener. MATT SMITH PHOTO

HORMONES CAN BE SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT

SEXPLANATIONS

STACEY JACOBS COLUMNIST Driving alone down King Street I am crying in my car. Not enough that I need to pull over, but enough that tears are slowly falling down my cheeks. The reason for my tears is an ambulance that drove by with its flashing lights on. I began thinking of the reasons for the flashing lights: a car accident, a heart attack, a shooting.

This crying has been happening to

me lately over things I would not normally cry over: a commercial, a song, an ambulance! In general I do not think of myself as a “crier” or an overly sensitive person, and there could be many factors leading to my new crying episodes, but I am almost certain that it is the result of my hormones. A mixture of my own hormones and the artificial hormones that I put into my body in the form of birth control.

I am 40 years old and have been using hormonal birth control for over half my life, at first for preventing pregnancy and later to help alleviate some of the symptoms of my endometriosis, such as extremely painful and heavy periods and abdominal and back pain. Without the hormones in birth

control I would not have been able to function for the past 20 years. I know this because I would occasionally stop taking birth control to see what would happen. What happens is the inability to go to work, school or even out of the house at times.

And so I have made a decision to continually take hormonal birth control in order to live my life. There are many people who take birth control for reasons other than pregnancy prevention. The hormones in birth control can alleviate heavy periods and cramps, suppress periods, regulate periods and decrease the symptoms of other ailments such as endometriosis. However, although they often eliminate symptoms, they usually do

not address the problem. But we live in a world where the pharmaceutical approach is the norm and so pharmaceuticals it is.

Hormones — both the hormones our bodies naturally create and the ones we put into our bodies — have the ability to change your energy levels and your moods, making you more or less tired, motivated, sensitive, angry, sad and irritated.

I have taken many forms of hormonal birth control over the years. One type regulated my moods so effectively that I basically stayed in the same mood at all times. Not angry, or sad, or too happy, just kind of blah. I did not cry for five years! I was referred to as a cold hearted bitch on more than one

occasion, and then I switched birth control and became a crier! What’s a person to do?

I am left contemplating. What is my true mood? My thoughts and reactions? I don’t think I will ever know, and so I have decided to accept that whatever my reactions, my feelings, my thoughts, I will simply go with them and respect them as they are.

Hormones are a strong force, whether natural or synthetic. They are worth thinking about and learning about.

If you have questions or concerns about your hormonal health, your moods, your feelings, ask a health care provider.

13

MARCH 2017 // COMMUNITYEDITION.CA

TRAYNOR FIGHTS FOR ITS WALKABLE ‘HOOD WR AND HOWE

JAMES HOWE COLUMNIST You can easily see Food Basics from the living room window of an apartment at the back of 301 Traynor Ave. Until recently, the grocery store was a 300 metre walk away – 500 when using the lights at Manitou to cross busy Fairway Road. Then two long fences went up and the same walk doubled to over a kilometre. Now if you want to do you weekly grocery shopping, you need to take a $10 cab ride (each way)

or a longer bus trip.

This is the situation faced by hundreds of people living in the Vanier-Traynor neighbourhood, where fences were erected to keep people away from the LRT tracks that replaced a former hydro corridor, but also severely diminished a walkable neighbourhood.

Maybe you want a double-double from Tim’s or a Big Mac. Or you have some banking to do at RBC. A kid with a good arm could throw a snowball from behind her building and hit any of those establishments. Now it’s a hike.

That’s a major problem in a neighbourhood where people are less likely than average to drive and more likely to rely on walking, biking and public transit. What might seem to be a

short distance by car becomes long if you are walking — and formidable if you are carrying bags of groceries or pulling a cart. Especially in the winter.

Even if a person owns a car, no one should be required to drive when it is so much quicker to walk.

So if we value walkable neighbourhoods — and that is a key goal of the LRT — something needs to be done, and soon, to preserve the routes people have been using to get to these and other destinations along Fairway from Traynor. Even without consultations, the well-worn paths clearly show where people regularly walk.

Fortunately we still have time to makes this planning oversight right.

Thankfully, the City of Kitchener took the lead on the problem the regional project caused. And so on a snowy

January afternoon, a good sized crowd attended a consultation on how to preserve pedestrian access now blocked by the fences. Staff seemed pleased with the feedback they were getting from residents on where they lived and where they were used to being able to get to on foot.

I trust that feedback will lead to a better solution than the trial balloon floated at the consultation. A potential pathway was shown crossing over between Michael’s and the Swiss Chalet building. While that may make sense as being about half way along the fenced route, it clearly is not the best location.

The apartments and townhouses are clustered on the end of Traynor near Vanier and pretty much right behind the conveniences on Fairway and the

crossing to get groceries. That’s where the paths are. That’s where a crossing is most needed.

Several solutions are being considered. While an overpass or a tunnel is desirable for ease of use and safety, they are expensive and not planned into the design. So a level crossing with gates that open only when it is safe is the best choice — just as it has already been selected as the best choice to cross another fenced section of the LRT route beside the University of Waterloo.

Let’s get on with it, because as a resident told the Social Development Centre of Waterloo Region, “a crossing is urgent because it would provide immediate access for necessities.”

Safety fences around LRT construction have more than doubled the distance that Vanier-Traynor residents must walk to access a range of basic services. JAMES HOWE PHOTO

CHRONIC PAIN IS REAL AND ALSO TREATABLE ANN MARIE GAUDON CONTRIBUTOR Chronic pain is real, but despite advances in medical science, there is currently no treatment available which consistently and permanently relieves pain for everyone. Between 16 to 41 per cent of Canadians suffer from chronic pain, which challenges the sufferer not only because of the stress created by the pain itself, but with other difficulties that can impact all aspects of a person’s life. If you have been searching for help you likely also know that the quest for chronic pain relief often remains elusive.

However, chronic pain need not be a hopeless or helpless condition.

The consequences of unrelieved pain can include but are not limited to depression, anxiety, sleep and appetite disturbances, social isolation and feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. In other words, unrelieved pain can disconnect you from your family, friends, work and recreation. This can be the worst kind of pain, and the fallout from chronic pain can also extend beyond the person to family, friends and caregivers.

Research has long recognized the psychological dimensions of chronic pain. In fact, pain is partly defined as “an emotional experience.” Coping with chronic pain requires immense emotional resilience as it depletes a person’s emotional reserves. For most people, putting our efforts into relationships, work, community involvement, parenting, recreation, and

exercise give meaning to life. However, the more that we attempt to avoid pain, the more controlled, inflexible, and limited our lives become.

Professional counselling helps people to accept that the pain is there, and not because it is wanted, but because when we end an obsession with changing the unchangeable, we can put that energy into other work, activities and relationships that we deeply care about. People with chronic pain begin to see that they are so much more than their pain, their thoughts, their stories, their beliefs and their feelings about the pain.

Professional counselling can also help people with chronic pain to focus their attention on that which they can control. When you regain a sense of control over your life, this in turn has positive outcomes for life satisfaction, a sense of well being, purpose, meaning, and achievement. You can live a life of meaning despite having chronic pain. Evidence continues to grow for the effectiveness of psychotherapy in the treatment of chronic pain. You can learn new skills and coping mechanisms to transform your life. You can learn to change the way you relate to your pain so that you can experience your life more fully — according to what you value. You no longer have to let chronic pain dictate your life; you can get yourself back into the driver’s seat. You can learn to take a more active role in your life rather than allowing the pain to drain your life away.

Ann Marie is a therapist who practices in Waterloo and specializes in chronic pain management.

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14

CHOPAN-KABOB DELIVERS TASTY AFGHAN-INDIAN FOOD

TCE REVIEWS

RAMINDER SAHOTA CONTRIBUTOR I have to make a confession upfront: I love Indian food. Especially in winter, while some people curl up with a bowl of hot soup, I find comfort in a fragrant curry and a bowl of rice. So when I stepped into Chopan-Kabob, I was unfazed by the bare bones décor or the fact that there were no other patrons in attendance. I was eager to

step out of the cold and dig into some good Afghan-Indian food.

I chose a seat by the window and was quickly provided with water and menus. I made some attempts to influence my husband’s order so that I could get my number one and number two choices, but he was steadfast and I had to admit defeat. I landed on a personal size bolani ($5), a pumpkin curry meal ($11) and a masala tea ($2).

He decided to go for the vegetable pakoras ($5), butter chicken ($13) and mango lassi ($3).

While we waited for our food to arrive, we entertained ourselves watching people navigate the snow-tightened parking lot. I estimate that we

witnessed about five near accidents in the short time it took for our food to arrive.

Just one of our two starters – the personal bolani or pakoras – would have been fine for both of us, as the portions were quite large. Bolani is a thin flat bread stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes. Perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside, it was a hit for both of us. The pakoras – vegetables fried in chick pea batter – were browned to be just the right amount of crispy, but I found the batter to vegetable ratio to be skewed towards batter, making them quite dense and rich for an appetizer.

My pumpkin curry and my hus-

band’s butter chicken each arrived with a plate of rice, a side salad and a couple of naans. The rice was cooked perfectly, while the naan were a little dry though tasty. I tend to favor rice over naan anyways so this didn’t bother me. The pumpkin curry was flavored with a masala sauce and drizzled in yogurt, and while the masala sauce was excellent it did overpower the pumpkin, leaving only a trace of its flavour in the “pumpkin curry.”

The butter chicken earned rave reviews from my husband, who said the sauce was not too sweet, like at many other local Indian restaurants.

While he was distracted by his butter chicken, I took the opportunity to

steal some of his mango lassi and immediately wished I had ordered one for myself as well. The mango lassi is by far the best in town.

I left Chopan-Kabob full and satisfied, already dreaming of coming back soon.

4.5 mango lassis (out of five mango lassis)

MATT SMITH PHOTO

ON ELECTORAL REFORM AND QUITTING SMOKING

WR OPINION

EMILY GLEESON CONTRIBUTOR Making a promise is a tough thing to do. Especially when you tell everyone about it, or worse, boast about it. I waited until I was a solid month in before I started telling people that I quit smoking, and truth is I still use a vape. Some people high five’d me and others kinda half congratulated me, but getting rid of the cancer sticks any way possible was a win in my books — and since no one had any big expectations, I wasn’t ever met with any kind of real disappointment. No one said I let them down.

Our Prime Minister did himself the disservice of telling everybody that he

was going to enact electoral reform before ever doing it. He was like that drunk guy at the NYE party, bragging about all the great shit he was going to do on the first (day of the new year/ year of election).

“No, seriously guys, like first past the post is so lame, I’m getting rid of it!”

And his buddies all cheered with him and he did a shot with one hand while planking on the bar and then the next morning he woke up with a pounding headache and turned to Sylvie and said, “oh, crap did I really say that?!?”

Ok, obviously that’s just my silly made-up world where our Prime Minister is a frat-boy, but here is what he said to the Canadian electorate: “I’ve heard loudly and clearly that Canadians want a better system of governance, a better system of choosing our governments, and I’m working very hard so that 2015 is indeed the last election under first-past-the-post.”

He said that to the editorial board of the Toronto Star on Dec. 2, 2016. He

reneged on Feb. 1, 2017.

Yikes.

News headlines called him a liar, indicating he took us Canadians for fools and small but furious protests took place across the country and in our region as well. On Feb. 11 there was a “Day of Action For Electoral Reform” rally at Kitchener City Hall (the Women’s March didn’t even get local representation). One of the speakers at the protest, Fair Vote Waterloo Co-Chair, Sharon Somerville brought toques that looked identical to the Liberal party swag, but had been embroidered to read “Real Betrayal” instead of “Real Change.” No one likes it when promises are broken, especially a big one like that.

In terms of the Liberals’ response, I found a rather banal and scripted letter posted by someone on reddit. com who had reached out to Waterloo MP, Bardish Chagger.

“There is no clear consensus on an alternative voting system for Canada,”

Chagger wrote, echoing Trudeau. To give the letter-writer some kind of analgesic she then offered that, “while our electoral system will not be changing in this mandate, this does not mean that there will be no electoral reform.” Following which she mentioned other things the Liberals are doing that are really great too but are totally not dealing with FPTP. Which is kind of like a parent saying to their child on their birthday, “no, you won’t get that pony I promised but look, I got you a goldfish!”

Why go so gung-ho from the start?

Why set yourself up for failure like that, making such a huge promise instead of something like “we’ll seriously look into electoral reform?”

Ah, but the latter statement doesn’t win votes, does it? It’s not as convincing to say to someone for my New Year’s resolution I am sincerely going to think about quitting smoking!

Nope, no high fives for that one. And sadly, no high fives when someone

asks, “hey how did that quitting smoking go?” and you say, “well I thought about it, I thought about it a lot. I talked to a lot of Canadians and I sent out this really convoluted questionnaire to all my friends but I just couldn’t get a clear consensus from them on whether I should actually quit because maybe some kind of fringe-type cigarette might make its way in between my fingers instead. In the end it just wasn’t feasible.”

That person would know gosh-darn well that I was making excuses and probably would think less of me, at least for a while — that is, until I wowed them with my solid handshake and posted an Instagram of me with a few thousand thankful refugees. Then they might re-consider.

MARCH 2017 // @THECOMMUNITYED

15

How to be an Ally ......................................

ISLAMOPHOBIA AT THE INTERSECTIONS ......................................

This resource is the knowledge production element of the How to be an Ally: Islamophobia at the Intersections panel discussion event which took place in Toronto in November 2016

CONTEXT

WHAT IS ISLAMOPHOBIA? “Islamophobia is defined technically as an irrational fear of Islam and a hatred or extreme dislike of Muslims. However, the term now can also include attacks on Muslims and their faith. Fear has led some to discriminate against, demonize and dehumanize Muslims. Political terrorism, globalization and social media have led to negative attitudes, violence, harassment, discrimination and stereotyping of Muslims.

The Berkley Institute on Racism Studies lists five prevailing beliefs as elements of Islamophobia. They report that Islam is often seen as: • monolithic and unable adapt to new realities; • not sharing common values with other major faiths; • a religion inferior to the West; is archaic, barbaric, and irrational; • a religion of violence, which supports terrorism; and • a violent political ideology” -NCCM Islamophobia Guide for Educators

In Canada, Islamophobia manifests on a personal, interpersonal and institutional level which negatively impacts the near 940,000 Muslims living in the country.

In recent years, Islamophobic attacks in Canada have doubled.

There has been an alarming rise in attacks against individuals (rather than property damage).

More than 90% of attacks have targeted visibly Muslim women, creating a nuanced intersection of violence known as gendered Islamophobia.

Discriminatory sentiments and attitudes against Muslims are on the rise in Canada.

...................................... HOW TO PRACTICE ALLYSHIP ......................................

Listen

Listen to the stories that diverse Muslims tell about themselves. Muslim communities are not homogenous!

The best way to confront the idea that Islam is unchanging, backwards and monolithic is to expose ourselves to the stories and lives of Muslims living at varying intersections of race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, migration, ability, age, class, status and beyond!

Words matter. Consider the language we use when refer to Muslims or Muslim communities in our homes, workplaces, community spaces and within our institutions.

Seek out knowledge and invest in your own learning

Consider what biases we have, what stories about Muslims we’ve internalized and begin the difficult process of unlearning.

Invest in your learning and ask yourself where the knowledge you’re consuming comes from: Are these stories that other folks tell about Muslims, or are they the stories we tell about ourselves?

Create meaningful inclusion Create inclusion of Muslims in conversations surrounding anti-oppression and equity.

Leverage your resources, skills and privilege(s) to make a platform for Muslims to document their experiences, share their narratives and create learning opportunities.

Ensure that events and learning spaces are created, made accessible to those who are most marginalized and chronically excluded within our communities.

Let the communities you’re supporting define what allyship looks like!

Consider the needs of the Muslims in your life and support people how they want to be supported—sometimes that means advocacy, and sometimes it means taking a backseat and making safer spaces for people to tell their stories.

Take responsibility for learning and educating those around you. It’s not the sole responsibility of Muslims to confront Islamophobia and shift the narrative.

Have difficult conversations!

Confront casual instances of Islamophobia and ignorance surrounding Muslims from the people in your life. Name and identify Islamophobic sentiments, jokes, policies and events. Seeing your allyship in action creates safe spaces for Muslims in Canada and helps to shift our national discourse and global narratives.

This includes holding elected officials and institutions accountable for their actions, policies and words, particularly as we consider new legislations surrounding immigrants/refugees, national security and violence against women which often results in criminalization of entire communities and the marginalization of those who are already vulnerable to these forms of violence.

Be honest about your shortcomings in allyship, and transparent in your learning journey. We all make mistakes, but accountability and a commitment to doing better are the most important steps in allyship.

Remember that Muslims are diverse and all of our experiences with Islam are shaped by other facets of our identities!

Thank you!

The event and this tool are made possible through generous support from funders and online donations from community members.

Panelists - Shireen Ahmed, Kusha Dadui, Rania El Mugammar, Gilary Massa Moderator - Adil Dhalla

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