Calgary Social Justice FAIL – Braeside Kicks Second Chance Recovery to the Curb
July 8, 2009 at 5:47 pm - By: Ro · About Community.When their first lease ran out they came under heavy scrutiny from their new community. The wrong zoning was the reason for their eviction. Their new location was zoned properly and should have been the new home for Second Chance Recovery.
Not so fast.
A victory was won for the community of Braeside. They successfully prevented the emergence of a recovery clinic in their community. But how can this really be hailed as a victory? In fact, I think this is a disturbing and sad day for our city since we failed again at engaging in a social injustice.
Recovery Clinic Forced To Leave City - Residents Rejoice
The new neighbourhood and landlord pulled out all the stops to rid the potential nuisance of an apparent injection of mangled humanity in their community. The clinic, Second Chance Recovery, signed a sub-lease with a previous tenant to rent the office space but the landlord is now going through the courts to try and evict the clinic.
A town hall meeting held Tuesday night in Braeside was supposed to give the public information about the Second Chance Recovery clinic even when no explanation was necessary. Instead angry residents, ranging from irate old folks to concerned parents, blasted the alderman. There were so many people that officials had to turn a number of residents away at the door by the Fire Marshal.
The news outlets suggested the controversy stems over the clinic's decision to open up its doors at a former medi-centre on Braeside Drive southwest without consulting the community first.
That couldn't be further from the truth. The issue wasn't about consultation, it was an issue based on fear.
But the biggest reason to shake your head is why Braeside, and let's face it, pretty much any community in this city, were so adamantly opposed to the recovery center.
"Why are drug addicts coming to our community? There's no reason for it." said resident Terri Jessup.
Drug addicts? Here's the thing, the clinic helps over 500 people get OFF drugs. Is this really a bad thing?
While most residents on hand were opposed to the clinic moving into their neighbourhood, CTV News spoke with one woman who is a client.
"The clinic means I can have a real life, and I can be healthy and I can be happy."
And these aren't skinhead teenagers hanging out on the playground looking to kidnap your kids. These are adults who are hooked to things like prescription drugs. So it's not the hobo living on the street, but the adult trying to hold down a job fighting their addiction. Now the chance for recovery got harder.
This is like saying that the hundreds of AA (alcoholics anonymous) groups shouldn't be held in communities because they house people with addictions.
Here are a few additional reasons why this is a troubling response by a community in Calgary.
1) It's not beneficial to protect children from seeing social injustices. Keeping kids safe, yes, but ensuring they are never exposed to the social problems of life makes them less capable of not only dealing with their own problems, but engaging in making their communities in the future a better place.
2) The lack of information turned ignorance into fear. People made decisions based on fear attached to 'drugs' likely connecting drug abusers and crackheads on the side of the street with those trying to mount a recovery.
3) It highlights our communities incapability to acknowledge our own addictions. Name me a family who isn't affected by any of the following: 'recreational' drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, pornography, etc. If that's you then wow, I have no clue how you've made it this far in life without being exposed to these destructive forces. (See #1 on how we deal with the issue.)
4) We've pushed social justice out of the way. This is a danger, a huge one. Do you suppose that in a city of 1 million that drug use and addictions increase or decrease? Well they certainly are not decreasing since the centers devoted to recovery are shut down and being placed OUT of the city.
Pushing drug users out of the city doesn't help because of the 500 clients sent to another recovery center, there are probably 100X more with similar addictions nobody knows about.
5) Generally people are OK with recovery, so long as someone else does it and it's in another community. As Calgary urbanizes and the suburban sprawl slows, it is absolutely inevitable that the problems we try to hard to push under the rug will turn up next door. Rather than fearing recovery because of intensity of the process, we should seek ways to engage with it and make the 'wrongs' right.
6) The worst explanation I've heard about this is, "they've made their own decisions and need to live with it." That might fly if we were all robots and committed to the capitalist laissez faire attitude. As it turns out, leaving everyone to 'work a bit harder' to make 'something of themselves' will leave an alarming amount of people not only on the street, but suffering in a place as rich and beautiful as our city.
Solution?
Can't say there is an easy one. You won't find too many parents willing to 'expose' their kids to recovery clinics, even if they never cross paths. What I think we can agree upon is that community is important. People are starting to notice that if we come home everyday of our lives to our closed homes and garages, that we miss out on participating in the growth of our local community and the relationships we can find within.
However, communities that care about relationships and participation have to turn around and be equally concerned about those who are suffering from social injustices--however they came about. A community that ignores the oppressed is no community at all since they ignore the hurt and plight of their own.
Your thoughts on either side of the dialogue?
[tags]calgary, methadone, clinic[/tags]
Jason Says:
This is not the first time that the communities of braeside and oakridge have taken actions discriminating against marginalized populations. For many years members of these communities have fought against the ring road - more due to the potential of increased traffic from natives than the preservation of Weaselhead Park.
In the same way they are discriminating against recovering prescription drug addicts. These two communities should be punished for their disrespect of social equality - if they want to choose who comes in and out of their communities they can opt out of the municipality and provide their own resources/services to the area.
July 8, 2009, 8:01 pmTole Says:
Earth to Braeside, these people don't just loiter around stealing your kids. They get in, get their treatment, and go back to their homes. I can't say any other community would be d ifferent though, everyone just intolerant of the other when push comes to shove. Same thing happens with our families if one goes down.....don't address it cause we don't know how and do'nt want to get our faces dirty.
July 9, 2009, 8:58 amAddict Says:
As an addict who lives in Braeside I want to let all the parents of the kids who play with mine to know I'm secretly turning kids into drug users..... actually, I'm just a normal person like you and am working hard to recover. Thanks for making me uproot my family out of the city to Red Deer just to get help.
July 9, 2009, 12:34 pmJok Says:
http://www.globaltv.com/globaltv/calgary/story/Methadone+patients+scramble+make+plans+after+closure+announcement/1775499/story.html
Must read about how communities have bullied people trying to get on the street. This has made the problem worse. You heard, WORSE, because people trying to get clean will hit the streets. Good job Braeside!
July 9, 2009, 7:47 pmRo Says:
Thank you all for your perspectives. Seems as though the clinic will find a new home IN the city after overwhelming positive repsonses.
http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/262171--methadone-clinic-gets-second-chance-will-stay-in-calgary
July 16, 2009, 9:47 amMom of 3 Says:
You people are so high on yourselves it's disgusting. What because you people live in your big fancy houses you can't be or know an addict. HA aren't you guys wrong.I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and had major surgeries and all my insides taken out and chemo etc. So for my pain which was excrutiating i was prescribed oxycontin. So next thing you know i became dependant of them. So i tried to stop taking them and i became so sick it was unreal and i wanted to kill myself for allowing myself this to happen.So along came Second Chance Recovery and they changed my life for the better.Not only am i not addicted to oxycontin anymore but i am cancer free and methadone helps me for my pain. So am i a monster??? I don't think so.And i'm telling you right now that there is probably someone you know who is addicted and you don't even know it. It happens to really good people who can't help it so maybe you should stop judging people and you never know it could happen to you and then what??????
July 29, 2009, 10:00 pmKeith Says:
My wife and live in Braeside. During the community pancake breakfast during stampede week. They had a petition for everyone to sign. We read the petition and asked for more details. I think my wife and I were the only one's to sign in favor of them relocating into our community.
Justice suffers again at the hand of comfort and ignorance
November 22, 2009, 10:04 pmRo Says:
I find it hard to believe that everyone in Braeside are in favour of committing social injustices. Typically only a few are every involved in their community, and even fewer would propel a cause that would stamp out social justice initiatives. I would have to believe that it's only a few vocal people who feel strongly Indians shouldn't be driving in from the reserve to their community, and that recovering addicts shouldn't visit the zoned clinic in their strip mall.
Thus, it would only take a few more vocal people to squash what may very well be a overzealous and shortsighted minority.
December 5, 2009, 1:30 pmKeith Says:
I don't think I was implying that "everyone in Braeside are in favour of committing social injustices." I was just stating that most people that signed the petition was against Methadone clinic. Granted I never saw the entire document, but when we did look at it briefly there wasn't one signature in favor until ours. Which I found sad.
When you say it's only a "minority" that was fighting against it, I might disagree. There was probably over 1000 people that attended the breakfast that morning and their signatures said other wise. I think a 1000 people of any demographic might speak for the majority.
However, I could be wrong. To align myself with your thinking, I pray that I am wrong and that there was a stonger voice that just missed this opportunity. Maybe, the message just got lost in all the hype and maybe most didn't know what they were signing.
I love Braeside and my neighbors. I think it is an amazing community because of the people that reside here.
Next time I will take your advice and be a stronger voice instead of just letting it happen.
I appreciate your website and the conversation it facilitates.
Blessings on ya,
December 6, 2009, 8:58 am-K
Keith Says:
PS,
Sorry about the typo's. I think faster than I type :)
December 6, 2009, 9:00 amRo Says:
Thanks for your insights Keith. I see what you're saying and hang on to the vain belief that at our core we all know it's wrong to commit a social injustice like this. Perhaps a majority believe this, but perhaps when confronted with the options in the setting of a conversation people's mind would change.
If you live in Braeside maybe your next stop will be to lead a movement in your own community? I always wondered where the church's voice was during this whole fiasco....did they have nothing to say?!
December 6, 2009, 10:53 am