Voices support harm reduction – for all

About 65 people showed up at the rear of Hamilton’s Carpets to support Doug Hamilton and the area’s business community while three members of “Moms Stop the Harm” attended.

Lyra Angus came to show support for Doug (Hamilton) and other local businesses “that have to keep quiet due to their jobs and for fear of having their businesses attacked so we are here to speak on behalf of them.”

“We understand that people have addictions and need help but, we don’t think this is the right way to do it.

“We need rehab, we need detox – the safe site is great as a hamster wheel basically but, there’s no treatment here. We’ve tried addressing the Mayor with having rehab but, we don’t get much respect from him and he seems to be ignoring the whole issue and this is what happens when the whole city is ignored.”

“We have a lot of support,” said Angus, “We’d like to continue working with everyone else to deal with this – people are scared because they have people doing drugs on their property, people are prostituting outside, they’re shooting up, they’re causing damages – Doug has had thousands of dollars worth of damage done to his building and I don’t believe ARCHES has offered to help with that.”

Angus continued her comments, “Arches made a big post (on Facebook) that paved the way for Doug having death threats directed at him and when tons of people commented on that post they (ARCHES) deleted them and it’s their way or the highway, and everybody else is uneducated, doesn’t know what addiction is – everybody here knows what addiction is and has had their life affected by it.”

Robert Bernie, owner of Bernie’s Auto, which is just a block from Hamilton’s Carpet, also turned out to support Doug Hamilton and his cameras.

“We’re all finding in this community where we’re working that business is down and we have to deal with this on a 24-7 basis.”

Bernie’s business has been in its location since 1991 and Bernie says, “Everything was good, business was doing well but, about a year and a half ago, it started being affected by drug people coming around the businesses constantly and it progressively got worse and worse and we have to do something, it’s killing business – my business is down at least 40-per cent – people won’t come in or walk our street, my taxes are still there. It just worries me what we’re going to do.”

“Some of the businesses have extra money and they can actually pack up and leave – I just can’t do that so I am going to have to stay and fight.”

Bernie relates that his automotive shop has had 10 to 15 cars with their windows smashed out, his own vehicle was stolen in the middle of the afternoon, he’s had addicts actually die on his property, as well as groups of them using drugs on his property during business hours.

“I try to move them along as politely as I can but, they get aggressive and I have to phone the police and we start this circle, over and over again – I can’t do my job the way I used to because I have to spend time watching all of that – don’t want to do it but, I have to.

What would he like the city to do?

“Two things – it (SCS) either has to be moved out of a business area, to somewhere that’s more controllable or just get it out of here – shut it down. I went to 25 different businesses personally to get a feel of what people are dealing with and it’s just sad stories all along.”

Petra Schultz was visiting family from Edmonton and was with two other ladies from “Moms Stop the Harm”. She held a framed photo of her 25-year old son Danny, who died in 2014 from an accidental overdose of fentanyl. She said he died within walking distance of where a supervised consumption site is now located in Edmonton, which she says he could have used to save his life.

Petra Schultz meets Doug Hamilton – LNN

Schultz introduced herself to Doug Hamilton and as she spoke, other voices attempted to speak over her and contradict her comments. At that point, Hamilton quieted the other voices and told them Schultz was speaking respectfully and deserved respect in return.

Schulz offered her perspective.

“The people who come to ARCHES, they struggle with a lot of things and how you show people and how you talk about them is so important and I know that some of the words that were on your Facebook page weren’t yours but, if you want to keep dialogue you have to be respectful of everybody even the people at Arches and I encourage you moving forward to kind of take that approach and hopefully, getting together with them, you can find some solutions and pressure the powers that be.”

“There is a lot of help that is needed down here in Lethbridge that you are not getting and I totally agree with that,” said Schultz. “You have a new minister of mental health and addictions, ask him what he’s going to do for services down here.”

“Most of our members mourn loved ones lost to the overdose crisis and we are here today to support ARCHES.”

She said she hoped ARCHES could work to reduce the tension in the city and engage in an open dialogue to find out what could be done.

“People ask do we really need consumption sites? Do we need treatment? Well one doesn’t come without the other.”

“First we have to keep people alive and the consumption sites are a helping hand – they reach out and help people, they don’t judge them and keep them safe. And when the bridges are built they can seek other services and get health care treatment. But the problem you have here in Lethbridge is there is very little for people to be referred to – the supervised consumption site can only refer people to services that actually exist. You need housing and treatment support in Lethbridge but the first step is to keep people alive.”

Schultz continued, “I say dead people don’t recover, Danny (her son) will never recover and that’s why I started with “Moms Stop the Harm” and to make sure other families don’t have to go through this.”

“I understand Mr. Hamilton’s concerns about the tensions in the area and there needs to be a solution for social issues that arise and I hope politicians realize that money must be invested in Lethbridge for resources.”

For his part, Doug Hamilton noted the people who showed up on Saturday were not just for him but to support the business community in the area. He admitted it was nice that they were there.

Doug has attempted to communicate with ARCHES in the past but other than seeing them at community consultations has never had any personal contact with them. He said there were emails back-and-forth with him complaining about damage and them telling him it wasn’t their problem.

After a story was published about the issues Hamilton was facing and the death threats against him that are being investigated by police, Hamilton confirmed ARCHES’ representatives had finally reached out to him.

“They said they would get in touch with me and they have e-mailed and I know that Jill (ARCHES Director Jill Manning) will be in touch and doing something in the following week.”

3 ladies from Moms Stop the Harm – LNN

by Dori Modney and Photo-journalist Brandyn Montgomery

Voices support harm reduction – for all

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