‘Enough is enough’
Communities in Unity walk, vigil targets opioid crisis
Members of the community and community groups came together in solidarity to raise awareness and to remember those suffering most through the opioid crisis.
The event, “Communities in Crisis — Coming Together” featured a walk from city hall to Galt Gardens, followed by a vigil.
The event was hosted by Communities in Unity. The goal of the group is to build bridges between service providers and people accessing those services, equip people with the tools to cope with their issues, and open a dialogue in the community around opioid addiction.
Kelsey Many Fingers-Healy, event planner, lost his brother on Christmas Eve 2016 to an opioid overdose.
“One of the most joyous times of the year was actually one of the hardest, saddest times for me and my family,” he said.
He said he wanted to do something to bring awareness to the issue, but had to work through his grief first.
This past week, a co-worker he was friends with was killed as a result of an overdose.
“I thought ‘enough is enough,’” he said. “We’ve got to let people know there are resources available, and there are
facilities out there that can assist these people so they don’t end up in a grave.”
Abby Morning Bull is another organizer for the event and said while she hasn’t personally been affected by the opioid crisis, she has been there for many friends’ struggle with those they love suffering overdoses and struggling with addiction.
“When you’re feeling isolated and alone, it makes things so much harder, and it is just so brutal for some folks,” she said.
She said with so many overdoses occurring in such a short time, some people may feel like they don’t have time to deal with an emergency before another one hits. She said at the end of the walk that was one of the main reasons for the vigil.
“People may not feel like they have a chance to mourn,” she said.
Morning Bull said the event is an effort to raise awareness as well for the services available in the community.
“Our community resources are awesome,” she said, adding a number of organizations were happy to provide information to help spread the word about services available.
“They definitely went above and beyond,” she said.
She added she hoped the walk would also show people how farreaching the problem is.
“It’s people in the community you wouldn’t think (have a drug issue),” she said. “We’re really hoping we can break down some of those barriers tonight and just show people they have a community behind them, and that there are people who are going to see them for who they are.
“And if they want help, or need to accesss to resources that are there. Hopefully we can build a relationship between the two, people will feel more comfortable accessing those resources.”
On Monday, Associate Minister of Health Brandy Payne in an email weighed in on the issue.
“The opioid crisis is hitting Kainai Nation hard, and my heart goes out to individuals and families grieving the loss of loved ones,” said Payne “We’ve been working closely with the nation’s leadership and Department of Health to provide additional lifesaving supports.”
Payne said the province has secured federal approval for a temporary overdose prevention site in Standoff and is working to move the temporary supervised consumption services at the Sheldon Chumir Centre in Calgary to the Kainai First Nation.
“We’ve also sent more than 300 additional naloxone kits to the community, as well as additional AHS staff to provide ongoing support to the community throughout the week,” Payne said in the email.
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