TIMES COLONIST | timescolonist.com
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2017 A13
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There is no honour or glory in the waging of war
Having the chance to make a choice for recovery
DON EVANS
I
sat down to lunch in the Our
Place dining room recently to
chat with several of the people
who rely on us for their daily
meals. It’s one of my favourite
parts of the day, as it allows me to
connect directly with the men and
women Our Place is there to help.
One man, in particular, caught
my attention and we began to
talk. He was down on his luck,
using drugs to mask his pain, but
glad for the bowl of homemade
soup, salad and bread on offer
that day.
When I asked what was bothering him, he said he knew he was
going to end up back in prison
soon because he was starting to
commit crimes to feed his drug
habit. He had tried short-term
treatment programs in the past,
but none had worked, and he
didn’t know where to turn.
This is a story I hear too often.
Someone suffering on the street,
dealing with his or her addiction,
only to get involved in criminal
activity and end up in prison.
In my opinion, this is where
the story should change. This is
where a team of addiction specialists and mental-health workers get involved, dig down to the
root of all that pain and transform
a life.
Unfortunately, that isn’t reality.
Instead, our incarcerated individual goes through periods of
withdrawal mixed with periods of
feeding his addiction through any
means necessary. Boredom
makes the cravings worse. Anything to escape the walls of his
own torment.
When released, our individual
has no new skills, no new methods
of coping with his lot in life or
solutions for his addiction. And so
he ends up back on the streets,
seeking drugs and escape, getting
involved in crime and returning
into the arms of the law.
This cycle needs to end.
And, more importantly, Our
Place has a plan.
Our Place became heavily
involved in ending the tent-city
crisis in 2016 by managing two
additional facilities on top of the
transitional housing and shelter
beds we already operate. Those
facilities are My Place on Yates
Street (transitional home;
40 indoor tents); and Choices in
View Royal (transitional home;
50 rooms).
As more permanent housing
comes on line via B.C. Housing,
we will soon close down My
Place. By the end of 2017, we plan
to have moved every resident at
Choices into permanent housing.
So the question becomes, what
does the provincial government
do with Choices, that wonderful
space once occupied by the Youth
Detention Centre?
Our Place envisions transforming Choices into a therapeutic
recovery community. Working
with Island Health, B.C. Housing
and the judicial system, I believe
that we can make a positive
impact in our community by ending this vicious cycle.
Our vision is multi-faceted and
intended to deliver a long-term
recovery program in a safe,
structured, therapeutic environment guided by professional
staff. This therapeutic community would provide a costeffective path to recovery, and
address the comprehensive, holistic, bio-psycho-social, and ecological perspectives of addiction,
homelessness and criminality.
Our goal is that every individual who graduates from this program will be in control of their
addiction, have a place to live,
a job and all the life skills necessary not only survive to in the
wider community, but to thrive
in it.
We want to offer the opportunity of participating in the therapeutic community to the family
Our Place currently knows and
serves, and to others in the community who live in poverty, are
marginalized and are hardest to
reach.
We aim to accept referrals
from B.C. provincial court (an
offender might request entry as
an alternative to a traditional custodial sentence); B.C. Corrections
(individuals completing custodial
sentences, who would otherwise
return to the streets, have the
opportunity to choose the Our
Place therapeutic recovery community); and Island Health
(homeless individuals, who have
undergone detox and stabilization, will be referred to the therapeutic recovery community).
We are still in the early stages
of working with our government
partners and private donors to
ensure we have the necessary
funding and assurances, but
I am very excited about the
possibilities.
When I shared our vision with
provincial court Judge Ernie
Quantz, he summed it up best:
“The Our Place therapeutic
recovery community will provide
a realistic alternative to incarceration. Enhancing the rehabilitative aspect of an offender’s sentence will provide long-term
benefits to society and the
individual.”
Do you share our vision and
want to help? If so, I would love to
hear from you.
Don Evans is executive director of
Our Place Society.
LETTERS
Vimy Ridge is part
of Canadian heritage
Re: “Canada did not come of age at Vimy
Ridge,” comment, April 5.
I find it displeasing that a person who so
blatantly advertises himself as being of
American military and academic background finds the need to rewrite Canadian
history and public perception in reference
to Vimy Ridge.
Regardless of whether the conditions
that led to this event were right or wrong,
or whether one objects to a historic military battle being perceived as a focal point
of nationhood, Vimy Ridge has become
part of Canadian history and heritage.
The timing of the published comment,
right before the 100th anniversary, along
with the writer’s personal investment in a
contrary opinion only reinforces the perception that he is presenting comments for
his own benefit rather than the re-education
of Canadians about their own history.
There are many Canadian academics,
historians, politicians, veterans, military
professionals and members of the public
who have a detailed knowledge of the
events of Vimy Ridge and its effect on the
people of this country afterward. It might
benefit the writer to learn more about the
subject from these people, and understand
a bit more about why many Canadians honour this event both as a country and as
individuals.
Norm Wilhelm
Nanaimo
Canada not a player
in war games
Re: “Canada did not come of age at Vimy
Ridge,” comment, April 5.
Thanks for this refreshing article — truth
rather than propaganda and wishful thinking. There is little glory in any war, and the
First World War, in particular, was a travesty in every dimension.
Canada has always been and, thankfully,
will always be a minor-leaguer in world
affairs. I realize that the bully to our south
limits our options for a truly independent
world view, but let’s not kid ourselves that
we are a meaningful player in the war
games.
Mike Day
Saanich
Canada should pursue
peace, not war
Re: “Canada did not come of age at Vimy
Ridge,” comment, April 5.
The writer offers a perspective that
deserves consideration by all peace-loving
Canadians and our policy-makers.
While we should honour and recognize
the sacrifices made by our soldiers, the
principle of sending our troops to fight in a
senseless war that grew out of a European
squabble should have been condemned.
People such as Gen. Douglas Haig, who
considered troops to be war fodder, were
warmongers who deserve condemnation,
not glory.
The long history of homo sapiens eliminating other species and then fighting
amongst themselves is nothing to be proud
of. Are there no other ways for peace and
security? Are we always going to look for
excuses like weapons of mass destruction?
As the writer correctly points out, we
should question the continuous demand for
increases in defence spending at the cost
of social programs and justice for our people. Where does it all end?
Maybe we should question alliances
such as NATO and theories of deterrence.
Canadian soldiers advance behind a tank at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Letter-writers are divided on whether the sacrifices made at
Vimy were worth the cost in Canadian soldiers’ lives. IMAGE PA-004388, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA VIA WIKIPEDIA
Perhaps such concepts are irrelevant now
and we can learn from our mistakes and
find better solutions.
Although Costa Rica is a small nation, it
had the vision to eliminate its military, and
has rapidly progressed since then, as was
pointed out to me by our tour guide and
checked out by me based on facts.
Surinder Kumar
Victoria
Veterans recalled horror
of trench warfare
Re: “Canada did not come of age at Vimy
Ridge,” comment, April 5.
Thank you for the commentary by William
Geimer. My father and my grandfather
served in the Canadian army in the
trenches during the First World War, and
the stories they told emphasized the abominable conditions in which they lived and
the participation of Canadian soldiers in
disgusting behaviour, such as the murder
of German prisoners of war.
There is no honour or glory in the waging of war. During the eight years I served
with the Royal Canadian Navy, I found it
excitingly competitive to learn to use the
weapons that were available to us, but
I also learned that the sole purpose of those
weapons was to maim, kill and destroy.
I no longer wish to be associated with such
a purpose.
Robert Radford
Duncan
Little benefit in fighting
other people’s wars
Re: “Canada did not come of age at Vimy
Ridge,” comment, April 5.
The commentary supported my father’s
remembrance of a war where 11,000 Canadian soldiers were never found, buried
somewhere in the mud of the trenches.
My father raged at the stupidity and
waste of Gen. Douglas Haig, who was
reputed to believe that “the war was not
going well on any day that 5,000 of his
troops were not killed.” My father was at
Vimy and Passchendaele, wounded twice
in that war. Like William Geimer, he did
not celebrate the “glory” of Vimy.
It is interesting that Queen Victoria of
Britain provided royal relatives who went
to war with each other. The Kaiser was
married to her daughter. King George was
a son, the Russian czarina was a daughter
and another was married to the king of
Spain.
They had a war that determined which
navy and army was the best — like a
nationalistic hockey or football game today
— except for the millions of soldiers and
civilians who died or were wounded or
crippled, mentally or physically.
To the greater glory of the British gentry, generals Haig and Paul Von Hindenburg, the German gentry and royalty, all of
whose ambitions my father detested
equally. Their ambition was carried on the
backs of those who did the heavy lifting
and dying.
Geimer and my father had it right.
There is great sacrifice and little advantage in fighting other people’s wars.
Harry Atkinson
Sidney
B.C. Hydro’s capacity
depends on water
Re: “Want to save the planet? Use electric
lights,” letter, April 4.
The “want to save the planet” letter
displays a common misunderstanding
regarding the power grid and B.C. Hydro’s
ability to increase overall output.
Hydroelectric production is based on
precipitation (water behind the dams). So
far, humans have not devised a way to
increase rainfall or snowfall. B.C. Hydro
has to work with what water it gets.
It can fluctuate power output over
short time intervals (hours, days, weeks),
but not on an ongoing basis; essentially it is
controlled by the weather. So, no matter
what we add to the grid (electric cars,
electric trains, low-wattage light bulbs),
B.C. Hydro cannot raise its overall output
— unless you carried enough buckets of
water to the reservoir to accommodate the
new load.
B.C. Hydro will produce what electricity it is able to each year, whether sold here
in B.C. or exported. If tomorrow everyone
in B.C. bought electric cars, B.C. Hydro
would not be able to produce any more
power to charge them; it would likely
export less but still produce the same overall amount.
Interestingly, if B.C.’s power consumption dropped substantially, the corporation
would just export more power to avoid
wasting reservoir water. If we wish to
power more items with hydroelectric
energy, we must build more hydroelectric
facilities (dams such as Site C?).
Adding additional loads to our current
hydroelectric production facilities in no
way increases their output, not even
adding a single light bulb.
Mark Henry
Victoria
Essihos was patient
and passionate
Re: “Essihos remembered as piano
mentor,” April 4.
Not only will George Essihos be remembered by fellow musicians and students of
the piano, but by a decade of dancers who
trained with the late Wynne Shaw in her
studio on the fourth floor of the newly renovated Hamley building.
In the 1950s, George was the pianist
during ballet classes and had the patience
of a saint, jumping from Chopin to
Tchaïkovsky to Mozart to J.S. Bach and
back again while we practised our “barre”
exercises over and over again. All the ballet students adored him for his twinkle and
humour, especially when he played La
Malagueña with the passion of a Spanish
bullfighter that lifted him off the piano
stool, hands flying over the keyboard, head
thrown back in pure joy of the music.
Every time we hear La Malagueña by
Ernesto Lecuona, George Essihos will be
remembered.
Mary Spilsbury Ross
Victoria