'No easy answers': Speakers at forum urge compassion for people living with addictions

The problems of addiction and homelessness were on the minds of about a hundred people who attended a community forum at Gordon Bell High School Thursday night. 

"We're very concerned about the conditions in the West Broadway neighbourhood and about the people," said Linda Hiebert, a member of Young United Church on Broadway and Furby for more than 40 years.

She said there are so many people in obvious distress that one churchgoer has made it her mission to feed the needy on Sundays after the service.

"They come in in the winter to find a place. Some of them to sleep. Many of them just to have a place where it's warm and to go to the bathroom. There aren't any public restrooms in the city so it's tough if you don't have a place to live," said Hiebert.

"Our problem is keeping our staff safe, residents safe, we have an apartment upstairs, but also the people who come in to use our services. This is the real challenge that we face," said Tim Higgins, who is also a member of Young United Church and one of the organizers of Thursday's forum.

Higgins said there is a drop-in centre at the church, a daycare, two separate congregations and apartments upstairs. 

"There are people in the neighbourhood who think that our drop-in is the cause of all the problems here. And you know we think that's wrong. But we need to engage. But it's very difficult to engage when it's all anger and no actual talking," said Higgins.

'People who use substances are people'

Dawn Lavand, a peer facilitator with the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, talked to the crowd about having more compassion for people with addictions issues. 

"I just wanted people to really evaluate how much they fed into the fear around the crisis we're in and remind them that people who use substances are people first," she said.

Lavand said people tend to write off the homeless and those who use substances.

"[They are] the only group of people that is openly slandered in media, (are) often the scapegoats for undesirable behaviour and usually get associated with being synonymous with crime."

She said Winnipeg needs to create spaces for substance users who might not be ready to quit.

"I'm a person with lived experiences with substances, and I'm not dead. So that's a pretty good indicator that maybe drugs don't kill, all the time," said Lavand.

A man in the crowd said drug users have attacked him with a knife and syringe on several occasions in his apartment building. He said they also routinely walk in off the street and have sex in the laundry room or defecate in the hallways.

Lavand said those people don't have anywhere else to go and that the man should have some sympathy.

"What about law abiding citizens and property owners where's the sympathy for them?" the man asked.

"I don't really have a lot of sympathy," responded Lavand.

'No easy answers'

"There's no easy answers," said Greg MacPherson, executive director of the West Broadway Community Organization. 

He wants to see the city shift its thinking to address some of the social issues that ultimately lead to crime.

"We can't solve all of our problems with a hammer. Sometimes we need to diversify our tools."

He said the city spends millions of dollars on police, even though crime is going down.

"I think that there's a lot of money being spent on response and suppression-oriented mechanisms rather than on prevention. I think we need both. And I'd love to see a little more balance in that," said MacPherson.

He would also like to see communities open their doors to those in need.

"We have a huge hospital down the street from our from our building. We have people on our streets who are unsafe during the day. They don't have a place to go to sleep.They don't have a place to go to get a coffee or to use the Internet. And I think we could provide that even with the facilities that we currently own," said MacPherson.

Bethany Maytawayashing said most of the people she grew up with now use meth. 

"I find that really sad and I wish I could help them," she said.