MHRN hosts event discussing ways that Truth and Reconciliation and harm reduction can come together in our community
On Sept. 29 The Manitoba Harm Reduction Network (MHRN) teamed up with knowledgeable panelists to present a conversation about the ways in which harm reduction efforts and Truth and Reconciliation can work together to create a safer community.
“We’ll talk about the connections between harm reduction, and reconciliation. We’ll talk a little bit about what reconciliation is, and to me a huge part of the reconciliation is action,” said Tristan Dreilich, Network Coordinator Selkirk, for the MHRN at the opening of the event.
The panelists who fielded questions and gave their expert opinions were Chelsea Grove who is an advocate, community mobilizer and frontline harm reductionist, Jen Meixner an assistant professor and social worker and Jeannie White Bird a knowledge keeper and community mobilizer.
However, before the questions started flowing, White Bird led the discussion with a teaching.
She first shared her story of being taken from her family as part of the 60s Scoop and being placed with a non-Indigenous family. This left her disconnected from her culture and to regain that knowledge she as an adult immersed herself in traditional teachings.
She then spoke about tobacco and its story of disconnection from tradition.
“This is our traditional tobacco,” said White Bird raising a tobacco plant she was holding. “It was manipulated and became toxic and poisonous,” she said holding up a package of cigarettes. “The spirit was attempted to be removed by marketing by the government manipulating it,” White bird explained.
However, she ended her teaching by speaking about how we can go back to using tobacco as medicine as it was originally intended and encouraged those wanting to participate in reconciliation to grow it.
After the teaching the questions started and Dreilich opened up by asking about the connections between harm reduction and reconciliation and where to begin.
Grove spoke about her story and how reconciling and helping others is something that is very difficult to start.
“I think that we need to remember, that the intention is centered in action, and acknowledging the truth, not just the truth of what happened as something that’s happened in the past but that’s something that continues to happen. The truth and the realities that we live with today, because there are people that are struggling today and we have to acknowledge the truth in that in order to move forward. Harm reduction is another one of those concepts again, that to me it’s philosophy, it’s a way of thinking, it can be a framework, but there has to be action to that, as well,” said Meixner.
White Bird agreed with Meixner voicing some ways that we can make change. She suggested that approaching all of our political candidates and explaining the importance of harm reduction can be a start but also addressing the underlying causes of addiction such as poverty, hopelessness, racism, and discrimination.
The second question set to the panel was what role does community have in harm reduction and what role does community have in reconciliation?
Grove opened the answers by talking about the need for safe non-judgmental spaces on a community level.
“When I was doing supply distribution, as an example, I had people coming all the time to pick up supplies because they didn’t want to go downtown. That office is a pretty cool, not judgmental place but some people don’t want to go into that building because of the way they think it looks.”
Meixner believes that we need to start by acknowledging our roles in our community – how we might be benefitting or perpetuating systemic problems – and then we need to take responsibility for our community.
“When you believe that your neighbour’s wellbeing is your responsibility because we’re connected because we’re in the same community, you have an investment interest in that community. Everybody is healthy and that’s your responsibility and that’s your role,” she said.
White Bird spoke about recognizing where we are and what tools we have. She said that sometimes substances are being used by people as a tool to get them through and that people need to understand that they are sometimes how people stay alive. Having a community that is understanding and doesn’t give up on people is important.
As a final question, Dreilich turned to the future asking, “What does reconciliation and harm reduction need to step up to imagine a better place for all of us?”
White Bird started by saying it was important for us to start seeing each other as more than passersby.
“Seeing me as your relative. Seeing me as an unconditional loving spirit. Because that’s really what we came into this world as and that is what we are going to be moving in this world as. That’s the way I want to be treated, that’s the way I want to be seen and the way I want to continue my relationships,” she said.
Grove spoke about how she would like to be seen the same way and that the reduction of stigmatization is so important.
“We have to look at our roles and responsibilities. I think that the responsibility needs to live with people who perpetuate and benefit from colonialism, oppression, and all those other things. I think that those systems and individuals that are doing that work, trying to figure out what their roles and responsibilities are, have a lot to learn and can learn a lot from Indigenous ways of knowing. To me when I think about community, reciprocity, kinship, that is harm reduction, like Jeannie said, that’s the original harm reduction. And those are things that all people can do. You don’t have to be Indigenous to do those things to live your life with love and kinship and reciprocity and all those other things. So, I think that as we walk forward we need to learn from the people with the lived experience, people from the community, and people with those teachings and we need to have the courage to change the way that we do what we do,” concluded Meixner.
