Want change? You change first
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on brandonsun.com
- Read the Brandon Sun E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
*Your next Free Press subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2024 (926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The March 8 editorial “Heavy Burden is Being Imposed on Downtown” can’t be left hanging out there without a response.
The cliché “can’t see the forest for the trees” was my immediate thought when I finished reading it.
The “forest” in this scenario are well-meaning folks who are held tightly in the grip of the tired old system (trees) that has proven over and over again that it does not work. If it did work, we’d be having a very different conversation today.
Anyone having to make use of the current “wellness” system is assigned a case number. That case number is then used to shuffle that person around in the “wellness” system. Because the system is so broken the person is passed from one resource to the next and will eventually end up in the dreaded “revolving door” of services syndrome. It is within that door that hopes and dreams come to die.
A recent experience at one of Winnipeg’s Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine (RAAM) clinics was a reminder of this. The concerns that I witnessed were shared with the applicable provincial departments and with the premier.
Why is it that we are so accepting that our most vulnerable people shouldn’t have hopes and dreams? That they should be put on display on the streets as a distorted art show to make a passersby feel disgust, sympathy, or whatever other feelings are evoked?
Maybe we need to stop saying things like “shooting up” and instead say things like “using a substance.” Maybe we need to stop fear-mongering parents by using their “kids” as a reason not to go to certain areas of their community. Maybe, so many things.
Little-known fact: The street community is more likely to assist a “normal” citizen that may be in distress quicker than another “normal” citizen might. Why? Because they don’t judge. Why? Because they know how it feels.
What I know for sure is this: Unless and until our most vulnerable people are looked at as anything other than a case number in an extremely dysfunctional system, nothing will change.
You want change? Change yourself first. Then everything else will follow.
KIM LONGSTREET
Winnipeg