Seasons of Sobriety: 'Our Community Deserves Better'

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Seasons of Sobriety: 'Our Community Deserves Better'

It was a sobering -19 (-24 with wind!) when the walk began on Reserve.

Eleven people had gathered to walk the 1.3km's from the Lac La Ronge Indian Band's Office to the 'Urban Reserve' in downtown La Ronge -- the same plot of land that previously housed the Lac La Ronge (All Saints) Indian Residential School (1907 - 1947).

'I made a choice over 30 years ago to quit drinking and doing drugs.' said Lac La Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, and it was '...one of the best choices I made in my life--not just for me and my family, but for the Community'.

The very same banner made the very same walk just five months prior, in a time where Northern Saskatchewan had largely escaped Covid-19's 'first wave' -- with just over 700 confirmed positives, June's Saskatchewan held only 0.6% of the Nation's cases.

Flash forward to November where Saskatchewan's caseload has grown to several hundred a day-- 299 new cases Today (November 26th), and we begin to see a very different face and phase of this Pandemic: the Hunker.

the Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse and Addiction reported in a 2020 pandemic publication that those who use substances disproportionately feel the loss of social connection, supports, impact of isolation, fear, and anxiety when compared to the general population.

'If we keep telling stories, good stories about ourselves...' said Firewater author (and Harvard Law Laureate) Harold Johnson in June 'people will see us walking. And if enough people see us continue walking that sober life: you will save lives.'

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Video Upload Date: November 26, 2020
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