FOLKS, IT IS COLD OUTSIDE ... PLEASE DEMAND SOMETHING BETTER!

I heard that more people are dying from drug overdoses in the streets of St. Catharines over the past few years.  One time, I was sitting with friends at a downtown Tim Hortons, only to be witness to yet another fire engine, an ambulance and a police car careening to a stop in front of the old courthouse downtown.  I watched as somebody carried a body on a stretcher into the ambulance, and slowly the small crowd gathering around there disappeared.  Doug Ford's answer to this was to de-fund existing sites, or refuse to fund new supervised injections sites.  This, in favour of the many unsupervised sites that are now inhabited by many of "the people" that Ford does not speak for,  The "people" are dying everyday; occasionally, saved by somebody that will call fire or police to the scene to get naxalone to the person on time.  Many times, we only have minutes.  This goes on while they continue to "study" the issue in the legislature, as the community tries to bring attention to this issue.

Vigil after vigil attempts to explain to the broken people out there that their lives are valuable and for them not to throw it away; however, Ontario's "government for the people" has quietly shown us just whose lives are more valuable than the rest of ours ... Ford's government has decided that cuts to mental health services is the best way to resolve these issues.  Increased funding to the police at the same time appears the way to go with these folks, so that we can further criminalize the poor and the homeless, thinking this will make these problems go away.

Over the past several weeks, the news brought to our doorstep the reality of what goes on in "the people's" lives.  At least two (the ones that were publicized anyways) people jumped over the Burgoyne Bridge and onto the highway below, leaving the roads blocked by police for hours as they investigate what many of us already know: people are taking their lives more often in the past few months.  Calls for a suicide barrier, a fence or netting have made its rounds, but sadly this is another expensive band-aid for that bridge that has already costed taxpayers about $91 million.  To put barriers up, it would be yet another cost, as folks found out in Toronto when they wanted to stop people from jumping the Bloor Viaduct.  Millions of dollars went into the construction of the so-called "luminous veil", but the suicide rates in Toronto did not go down.  As somebody I knew told me at the time, if somebody really wanted to die, they will simply find another way.

In the meantime, many folks on the front line are literally walking on tenterhooks, worried about what Doug Ford has planned for the most vulnerable people on November 8, 2018, particularly those that rely on Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program.  While many receiving OW can work, there are still too many that fell into that system who are waiting to be placed on ODSP.  To make people on OW suffer, this means it is okay to make many people with disabilities suffer ... Again, these are still part of "the people" of Ontario; henceforth, with lives that are not nearly as valued as the well heeled that will be needlessly rewarded with cuts to their taxes, as less revenue is generation to provide vital health and services other "people" need.  

Some of us believe that Ford is planning to create a crisis of sorts. He followed former Premier Mike Harris' playbook by cutting deep, acting fast and blocking as much opposition before it can be formed, even daring to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to force a mid-election change in the number of Toronto council seats.  The news adds a type of contagion in the community that puts a black cloud over the heads of every person who works with those folks in the community, on the streets and in the mental health "system" (if we can call it that).  Some of this is certainly playing in the minds of at least few who have taken their lives, while most anticipate a bigger spike after November 8, 2018, if all that is being predicted with Ford's new 'social assistance system' rears its ugly head, as believed.  Those of us who were around back in the days of Harris know about the inquests, public inquiries and contempt for the public, while a number of people who died under Harris' iron fist.  We try to tell people who refuse to remember history, that they are bound to repeat it.  Sadly, many of us believe this may be too late, at least as far as Ford is concerned.

Poverty costs us a lot of money.  It costs more on a per capita basis to keep any individual poor, than it would to get that same person out of poverty.  Some say it can cost up to $100,000 a year or more to keep one person living on the streets, as opposed to putting them into safe, affordable housing.  Poverty costs us as well in terms of safety in our communities as well, both real and perceived.  It is also easy to understand that minor thefts and property crimes also go up dramatically in response to community impoverishment.  How do we know that poverty is costing us?  The signs would include hearing about how funds appear to be added to the police budget, when everything else is cut.  There appears to be louder cries for harder, tougher sentences for anybody caught on the wrong side of the law.  These things also cost us money, yet do nothing to stop the crime.

At the current time, the UK Government has been internationally criticized and monitored by human rights groups for its deep cuts it made to people with disabilities.  There has been a report of over 120,000 people dying as a direct or indirect result of these cuts over the past few years.  Reports such as this should get the International Criminal Court and groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch interested, as it was not that long ago in the 1930's that the Nazis saw fit to directly kill approximately 300,000 persons with disabilities (others say over 400,000), given that such persons were seen as non-productive and of no value.  In fact, it was reported that at one of the six facilities involved, after staff cremated their 10,000th body, they celebrated with beer.

While it would be certainly unacceptable today to take people with disabilities to gas chambers or to take them behind the woodshed to shoot them, our modern governments have created new ways to control this population.  That is through denial of basic needs, cutting necessary services for survival and attempting to force them into their definition of what passes for "productive".  This is what is happening in the UK today and leading to a disproportionate number of deaths among people with disabilities.

The whole concept of valuing human lives comes with its own irony.  Many of those in the anti-abortion movement press for laws that would protect the unborn from a mother that seeks to terminate her pregnancy.  They argue that the unborn child has "rights" and that one of those "rights" is the right to be born and to live.  However, many of these same people in the anti-abortion movement also support political parties that promote deep cuts to welfare, health care programs, supports to single mothers and mental health services.  It is almost as though that a "right to life" exists upon conception, but disappears shortly after birth, especially if that child is born into a family that is poor, disabled or of an ethnic minority in certain culturally homogeneous countries.

Our times are changing rapidly, which means many people do not understand the political and socio-cultural changes developing around them.  Most people seem to notice "more homeless people", "more food banks" and some people feel bothered by panhandlers seeking pocket change.  Many of us turn to social media, which often turns us to hateful sites or to posts that serve to denigrate these parts of our community that most need our support.  The concept of dignity and human rights is poorly understood by most.  These principles do not comes with money or celebrity.  They come naturally with any human being that lives.

I've noticed more bullying of homeless people, as well as facilities attempting to push homeless people away.  Banks are routinely locking up their ATM's at night, fences and spike coverings are placed in laneways where homeless often seek to lie down, and panhandlers are chased away from businesses and told to "move along".  They are often unwelcome in coffee shops and enclosed malls due to their appearance.  The idea of "homeless" is too often linked to "mental illness", when it is known that only a portion of those without a home suffer from such disability.  Further, it can be argued that how we treat people who are homeless can often lead to depression, anxiety and a tenuous grip on one's will to survive.

It is these trends that I am fearing, often for good reason.  My own community has had three random shootings this year.  These are the incidents where the shooter aims at anybody at random, and not specific to gang violence as we know it.  There has been a rash of stabbings downtown.  Some people are afraid to walk the street alone at night, especially in some of the seedier areas of the city.  My community has been identified as having at least the second highest rate of opioid deaths in the province.  With Doug Ford turning his attention away from this issue, it indicates to me that this form of genocide is policy.  I have also heard many of his supporters post on social media to say that allowing these people to die or commit suicide will save us all money over the long run, which again sadly reminds me of the Nazi's pre-holocaust extermination of people with disabilities.

For those of you reading this, we need change.  We need to change the attitudes of people in the community to start valuing all of its members, as everybody has a story to tell, something to offer.  We need to move away from the idea that "cutting the bums off welfare" will save us money, but understanding that once this is done, the so-called "bums" are not going to disappear.  We need to call out hate crimes against the vulnerable and hold those that perpetrate them accountable, even if some of them happen to be members of our so-called elected governments.  Lastly, we will leave you with this sad video that has opened my eyes in many ways over the years, and led me to develop an understanding of the word "dignity".

See video.  We are not claiming any rights to this video, but I recommend people watch it after they read this blog, so they can understand what is happening to people today.

Thoughts?

THE RISE OF THE ANOMIE GENERATION

I walked the full walk for the Coldest Night of the Year 2017 for Start Me Up Niagara.  Start Me Up Niagara's business is booming, but for the wrong reasons.  Sadness and hurt is ubiquitous with personal pain taking priority over social peace.  The organization tries to put into place hands on solutions that produce long term change for people, instead of just feeding an empty belly for a night, or for a few days.  They pursue the concept that all people have value, not just those that are reaping most of society's rewards.

This winter has been rough for me with the death of my mother last fall, only to be followed by the knowledge and helplessness of my father dying before me.  To me, it is though society has been taking a turn in a different direction and we all feel like helpless pawns trying to fight against the forces that try to keep us all down.  Members of my profession are susceptible to mental health issues because people do not approach us when their lives are doing well, when optimism speaks the day. We spend our time receiving, analyzing, outputting and speaking out, filing complaints, approaching people who are less than happy to see us, only to be misunderstood by those for whom we speak at times, as well as our colleagues.

Niagara Region is not a nice place to live and do the type of work that I do, without expecting to have some of it rub on you.  It is part of the compassion of my advocacy and my practice.  I actually give a damn about the people that come in to see us.  I've often considered the work of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs ... my people are at all sorts of levels of that ladder, although nobody I know has truly reached the top of personal fulfillment.  At this time of the year, it is so hard to keep going  ... people around me are talking about the spring as though the spring can only bring blessings and freedom from this chronic darkness.  I spoke to the cab driver that took me here who told me as he let me off to keep your stick on the ice.  His eyes seemed to know how I was feeling, though I mentioned none of it ... he did mentioned so many people are hurting and cranky today.

This world is not the world that folks like my mother and father built.  My mother and father lived in a different world, in a different time ... perhaps, when we didn't know so much about the dangers of smoking and other things like that.  Growing up, I always noted people being mostly of an 'average' type, although I tended to thrive among the intellectuals.  We intellectuals would discuss anything, ranging from the eventual usefulness of learning the Pythagorean Theorem, to remembering the name of every bone and muscle in the human body and the periodic table.  At the same time, I watched the world evolve into something that I no longer understand or want more of.  My grandfather who I adored throughout his long life is probably rolling in his grave if he knew what the world has consisted of today.  He always taught me to remain strong, think for myself and keep fighting for justice.

In my working world, it is all computers, cloud technology, server technology and legal rigidity.  It is a controlled environment in some way, where we can give others the gift of a certain amount of peace and control in their lives.  Experiencing things, hearing things, doing things and then writing up memos about all of that becomes the life of law.  I continue to want and need the people around me that I have, as when I am not at work there is less of that, but more raw human emotions and amorphous anger directed at no particular direction.  I walk out of my office tonight.  One fellow is yelling and screaming obscenities down King Street, kicking over every garbage can or other chattel that moves.  Another fellow mumbled words only he knew what they meant, while giving us all the starry eye and that scary grin.  In the housing of the bank machines, people lie down and make themselves at home there.  They tell me they won't go to a shelter.

The world my mother and father were part of was one where everybody worked for a decent wage or produced decent wages for others, while looking forward to a decent retirement where the thought of mere survival and struggle was distant.  During my mother and father's time, people cared for one another, for their neighbours and did not mind having a government that also gave a damn.   My mother would tell me of how she grew up in a time that even rock and roll music was so new, so different and unabashedly rebellious.  Nevertheless, she felt the growth of illicit drug use led to where we are today, but then again, she faced her own comeuppance.  She married the man she thought would take care of her and us for the rest of her life, but that did not turn out right.  My father picked up and left my mother for what he saw were greener pastures, though that did not prove rewarding for him in the long run either.  At one time, there were consequences for one's actions ... or at least some expectation that one would apologize or at least forgive.

The fact that my mother passed away and my father is on his way to his own fate reminds me of the era that both of them lived through and hoped for our next generation passing on as well, and moving to a new ambiguous future where public anger results in the rise of people like Donald Trump and favouring policies like Brexit ... looking for solutions in politicians that create both impossible expectations and unanticipated grief for way too many ... the people want this, so why not they justify their stake into the very heart of society.  Society becomes an unnecessary force, as worship of the individual takes over, the thought that one strong man can make it right, is as scary as it sounds ...  I try to explain to people the elements of contagion theory and a voice of authority quietly condoning violence and hatred of the latest scapegoat group, or even joking about it to a large crowd of angry supporters ... is something that is as dangerous today, as it has always been.  Sometimes our first instincts, our first spark of anger and our desires arising from them are not necessarily the panacea we should be seeking.

In today's unabated community of 'alternative facts' and so-called fake news, society is approaching its pinnacle in its anomie.  The progressive forces of society not only have to fight the tendency of celebrity worship sharing the same old neoliberal concepts to run a government, whilst ignoring the very real consequences of a society going under, but to help people away from harming their own interests.  I tell people close to me what it was like for me to work in the mental health system when our province was headed by Mike Harris, who as his first move when elected slashed welfare rates, fired numerous civil servants and started the downward curve in health care coverage.  This is when I realized that the old era had ended and a new, scary reality was taking shape.  I do truly believe we never truly recovered from that period.  In my darkest moments, I still remember those who have died or have lost everything they owned or even their families or loved ones through Mike the Knife's slash and burn policies.

Those who worked alongside me back then are either dead or still wear their scars.  Occasionally, I meet one of them who appear very surprised to see me owning a legal office and partaking in rights-based litigation these days.   At the same time, I try to provide support and avenues for others to practice and to partake in profit sharing with me.  I also provide ongoing support and mentoring to others in the profession, many of whom just had too much.  Many stopped believing in what they do or what they are worth.  It's about the world and what it has been coming to.  It's about society telling people they are on their own, regardless.  I don't want to see the world turn out like that.  I want to stand up and make a difference where I can.  It is just sometimes so hard to see where I am going with this.  Some tell me it is about the ripple in the water the stone I make creates, as it broadens it scope to cover more ground.  Being a survivor is not all about glory and celebrity; it is grit and hard work, and many times hard feelings.

Click the links throughout this post and you will hear songs/videos replaying elements of the world I am referring herein.  Would be interested in your thoughts.