Anyone thinking the growing opioid crisis in Peterborough is falling under the radar in terms of public concern would have found strong evidence to the contrary on Wednesday night (June 12) at the Lions’ Community Centre in East City.

A public meeting on the issue, co-hosted by Ashburnham Ward councillors Gary Baldwin and Keith Riel, drew close to hundred people to hear a concerted call for more community action during a year which, to date, has seen 19 deaths resulting from opioid-related overdoses — more than the total for all of last year.

Over the course of one weekend earlier in June, there were 13 opioid-related overdoses with two of those overdoses resulting in death.

“This opioid poisoning crisis is a call to action … it’s an invitation to step up and save lives,” implored Kim Dolan, executive director of PARN (Peterborough AIDS Resource Network), one of three speakers who took to the podium.

“The scale of this crisis is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. We’re trying to respond to something that’s being imposed on us from external sources. We can’t control that. What we can control is how we respond to what’s happening here and now. That requires a coming together, a putting aside differences, exploring spaces of possibility, leading with our hearts, and knowing there is no one answer to this.”

The gathering comes during the same week that provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath came to Peterborough to discuss the crisis with Mayor Diane Therrien as well as with first responders and public health officials. And it comes less than a month away from a planned July 11 symposium on the matter to be held at Market Hall, jointly organized by Mayor Therrien and Ennismore Deputy-Mayor Sherry Senis.

In her comments, Dolan disputed the use of the word ‘crisis’ to describe the issue.

“I think back to 2004 and the flood. That was a crisis. Remember how community came together? People recognized there was a problem. We’re not seeing that here. What we’re seeing is a lot of finger pointing, and blaming of people for having weak characters — all the myths and stereotypes that create stigmas and discrimination and disenfranchise people.”

“We need a more robust response to opioid use in our communities. We need to ensure that people have access to accurate information and that we’re all doing a really good job referring people. We need to ensure that people have access to prescribed hydromorphone (an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain).”

“Rather than trying to save people’s lives because they’ve ingested poison, let’s put aside our judgments about addictions and why people are using drugs in the first place. We need safe places to inject. We need a provincial government that is really clear about their response and is able to unfold funding and approvals for programs in a way that is clear, transparent, fair and equitable, and that they follow up on their promises.”

Also taking to the podium was Peterborough Deputy Police Chief Tim Farquharson who admitted, for most of his policing career, he was “all about enforcement” when it came drug addiction.

“We’re not going to arrest out way out of this (crisis),” said Deputy Chief Farquharson.

“When you start to learn about addiction, you learn it’s not a moral failure. It’s a medical disorder. You have to get your head around that piece first. I was all about enforcement; a guy who spent most of his career in drug units and in intel, working the prisons and gaining informants, doing surveillance, doing door kicks … the sexy part of policing.”

“I couldn’t get my head around the community-based part of it. It was (former police chief) Murray Rodd that took the time to mentor me and turned my whole view around about a collaborative approach. If I changed my view, I know anybody can.”

Crediting former Trent University professor Dr. Thomas Symons with telling him there are two things common to effective policing — compassion and confidence — Deputy Chief Farquharson said that starts at the leadership level, adding “You need a give a shit factor of 12 out of 10. If you don’t have that, we’re in trouble.”

“For a police officer to get his head around clean supply is really tough until you realize that people are dying. People are dying because we’re still arguing about how we allow a clean and safe supply.”

There has been good progress, said Deputy Chief Farquharson, like the Good Samaritan Bill.

“Anybody calling 9-1-1 in Peterborough doesn’t have to worry about any repercussions. We still want to get to the bottom of who’s trafficking. Nobody is going to be charged or arrested for calling 9-1-1, but if somebody overdoses that’s not to say your police service isn’t interested in where the fentanyl came from. We will still do our due diligence.”

Few in Peterborough have been as solidly on the front lines of addiction as Peggy Shaughnessy, the owner of Whitepath Consulting and Counselling Services whose Redpath program addresses the underlying issues around drug addiction. She spoke as well, urging the community at large “to come together and be strong.”

“We’re losing too many people and it’s not just your average Joe,” she said.

“It’s not ‘those’ people any longer. It’s young people, it’s middle class people, it’s rich people. I was on opioids for four years because of a back problem. I recently got myself off all of them. Every pill I took, I asked myself ‘Is this for pain or is it to take the edge off of the day?’ When you’re looking across at somebody else, that could be you as well.”

Shaughnessy, through Whitepath, advocates a proactive approach to dealing with the opioid overdose crisis rather than a reactive one, saying “If we’re ever to get a handle on our current crisis, we need to look at new solutions’. We’re confident the Redpath approach is a piece of the puzzle.”

Still, she urges more people have naloxone, a medication that temporarily stops the effects of opioid drugs, allowing time for medical help to arrive.

“If you look at the number of overdoses, that is not a true number because those are numbers that are going to the emergency department. Those who are chronic users are educated enough to look after each other.”

When all is said and done, noted Deputy Chief Farquharson, “Our community is trying to figure out what to do.”

“This is not going away. It’s been with us for thousands of years. We just haven’t had the poison (in the drug supply) that we now have. It’s a life and death matter and it’s not getting any better. We have a lot of work to do.”

What does your child love about Canada?

The Rotary Club of Peterborough and the County of Peterborough are inviting students in Grades 4 to 6 to participate in the 2019 Isadore Black Canada Day Essay Contest.

Students are asked to submit written essays of around 500 words describing what they think is great about Canada. Possible topics include our country’s geography, people, history, First Nations, sports and recreation, and government.

Three winners will be selected, along with two finalists.

The contest was founded in 1994 by the late Isadore Black, a Rotarian and former Citizen of the Year who was posthumously inducted into the Peterborough Business Hall of Fame in 2017.

The Black family, which continues to be involved in the annual essay contest, is providing a JBL Bluetooth Speaker to each of the three winners.

Each of the two finalists will receive a $100 iTunes gift card courtesy of the Rotary Club of Peterborough.

The five winners and finalists, along with two guests each, will be invited to attend the Canada Day Rotary Lunch Meeting on Monday, June 24th at the Holiday Inn Waterfront Peterborough. Local politicians will be at the lunch along with local media.

The contest deadline is Saturday, June 15th.

To submit an essay, or for more information, contact Rotary President-elect Kevin Duguay at kevin@kmdplanning.com or 705-931-0975 or event chair Karen Laws at karen@ontariodogtrainer.com or 705-761-2159.

When around 200 people gathered at Trent University in May for the two-day national Inviting Resilience conference, their aim was to build the community’s capacity for resilience against the pervasive effects of violence and interpersonal trauma.

And an innovative way to help foster that resilience involves having young women who have experienced trauma work with horses. Research results to date from “Building Internal Resilience Through Horses” — a program led by Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre in partnership Dr. Kateryna Keefer of Trent University and The Mane Intent — were shared at the conference.

The Inviting Resilience conference, held on May 21st and 22nd, was organized by Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Trent University, and The Mane Intent Inc., with an advisory committee that included members from the First Peoples House of Learning, the Peterborough Police Service, and Peterborough Public Health.

“We know that one in three women and one in six men will experience a form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes,” says Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre executive director Lisa Clarke. “These rates are even higher for indigenous peoples and individuals who identify with the LGBTQ+ spectrum. This conference is part of an ongoing multi-sectoral effort to invite resilience into our communities, families, minds and bodies, to help us heal from past trauma and prevent future violence.”

Speakers at the conference included Dr. Keefer (conference chair and senior lecturer in psychology at Trent University), Dr. Sandrina de Finney (associate professor in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria), and Dr. Michael Ungar (professor of social work and Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience at Dalhousie University).

The conference also included presentations, experiential activities, and poster displays on topics including promoting resilience among victims of intimate partner violence and childhood abuse, transforming care in pregnancy and neonatal abstinence syndrome, the neuroscience of stress and resilience, suicide prevention among First Nations youth, and responding to disclosures of sexual violence on campus.

Other topics included addressing partner violence in trans communities, promoting resilience of parents and caregivers, reducing childhood anxiety, teaching emotional competencies, as well as innovative trauma-informed programs involving theatrics, art, hip hop dance, yoga, nature walks, Nato’ we ho win (the Art of Self-Healing), and the animal-human bond.

One of the many programs featured at the conference, Building Internal Resilience Through Horses is led by Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, with Dr. Keefer heading a research team from the Emotion and Health Research Laboratory at Trent University, and The Mane Intent in Indian River delivering the program.

The Mane Intent’s owner and program director Jennifer Garland has been involved in facilitated equine experiential learning for many years, as the result of experiencing a major life change when a horse walked into her life and became the most inspiring coach she ever had. She had been a successful consultant but felt deeply connected to the practice of working with horses, because of the power and the strength they inspire in people. She left the corporate world and blazed a new trail as a certified equine learning facilitator.

“I stepped out of my comfort zone, followed my passion and launched The Mane Intent in 2014,” Garland says. “I know horses can change who you are because they changed who I am.”

After taking this step, Garland attended a community conference where she started a conversation about her equine programming with a woman sitting next to her. This casual conversation eventually developed into a growing movement to understand trauma and to instill resilience.

“A quick chat turned into more,” Garland says. “Then we found a researcher (Dr. Keefer) and I’m glad we started that conversation.”

The collaborative chats grew into studies and then evolved into new learning on how to be trauma-informed. Garland is working on helping people understand this emerging methodology, which first involves acknowledging that trauma is pervasive, and then paying attention to safety, trust, choice, compassion, and collaboration — all while focusing on someone’s strengths.

VIDEO: Building Internal Resilience Through Horses

In 2017, the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, The Mane Intent, and Dr. Keefer’s research team landed some serious funding when the Public Health Agency of Canada provided a three-year $464,983 grant.

In 2018, the group launched a new website resource at invitingresilience.ca, where both survivors and professional service providers can review information on the resilience research, factors of resilience, and healing from trauma, along with local programs and resources for trauma survivors.

As well as supporting the Building Internal Resilience Through Horses program, the funding also allowed the group to organize the inaugural Inviting Resilience conference, where Garland had the opportunity to share the results she’s been seeing with participants in the program.

The program, which is designed to promote resilience and life skills in young women ages 13 to 18 living in the city and county of Peterborough and surrounding areas, has supported 11 groups of young women. Each of the participants has been impacted by childhood adversity and interpersonal trauma or exposed to intimate partner violence.

“The program is about gaining coping skills to be resilient in the face of trauma,” Garland says. And it’s having an impact — she and the team have received funding to continue for another two years.

“We’re going to 2021 now,” Garland says. “This is the power of possibility when you partner with others in the community.”

Garland is happy to report that program partnerships are growing, including through an agreement to support groups from the New Canadians Centre.

“Being trauma-informed helps people create the space they need to move through difficult parts of life and into a stronger future,” explains Garland. “It allows us to be much kinder and more inclined to hold space when they need that support.”

For more information about the Inviting Resilience project, visit invitingresilience.ca. For more information about the Building Internal Resilience Through Horses program, visit invitingresilience.ca/building-internal-resilience-through-horses/.

This year, Kim Blackwell is marking her 25th year at 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook.

The managing artistic director has played an integral role in the development of the outdoor theatre company for more than two decades.

Born in Toronto and raised in Peterborough, Blackwell was involved in the local theatre community from a very young age. It was while performing in a play in 1992 at the former artist-run The Union Theatre in Peterborough when she first heard about Robert Winslow — one of The Union’s founding members — staging The Cavan Blazers at his farm in Millbrook. She began working with 4th Line Theatre two years later.

“She is a force of creative energy,” says Winslow, the founder of 4th Line Theatre and its creative director. “Kim has given a quarter of a century to 4th Line Theatre and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for her significant contributions.”

In 2001, Winslow made Blackwell an artistic associate at the theatre and she soon directed her first production at 4th Line, 2002’s Gimme That Prime Time Religion, following it up the next year with Ryan Kerr’s Attrition. In 2014, she was appointed the theatre’s managing artistic director by Winslow and the theatre’s board of directors.

During her career at 4th Line, Blackwell was nominated for the John Hirsch Award for Directing Excellence in 2009 (Canada Council) and in 2014 (Ontario Arts Council). She was the winner of a 2013 KETS Award for “People Who Rock Our World.” She was the only Canadian invited to train with Felix Barrett, the renowned artistic director of Punchdrunk (Sleep No More) in his immersive and promenade theatre style.

Blackwell was inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame in September 2016.

“As a director, Kim Blackwell manages to pull the seemingly impossible together,” says actor Linda Kash. “Braving the natural elements, leading an enormous cast with a wide spectrum of experience, demanding professionalism and, all the while, maintaining a great sense of humour. She not only helps to tell meaningful, original and local stories, but also makes the experience of the telling itself meaningful.”

“She is a dedicated and driven theatre-maker, passionate about her work, the work of the artists she develops and the Canadian theatre scene in general,” says playwright Alex Poch-Goldin. “Kim’s leadership as artistic director and a director at 4th Line has galvanized it into an essential and iconic institution, unique in the Canadian landscape, where history comes to life and reflects contemporary issues.”

Renowned playwright Judith Thompson, whose ground-breaking play Who Killed Snow White? at 4th Line last summer was directed by Blackwell, agrees.

“She is one of the major voices in Canadian theatre,” Thompson says. “Her work at 4th Line as artistic director is brilliant, fully respecting 4th Line traditions while helping the theatre to grow creatively and reach wider audiences. As a playwright with 35 years experience, I can say that this was my finest experience with a director. She has a profound understanding of the space, the professional actors and the volunteers and most importantly the play. Kim is a woman of strong convictions and her principles shine through in every work she directs.”

During her time at 4th Line Theatre, Blackwell has directed 16 productions including seven world premieres. This year, she is directing the first show of 4th Line’s summer season: the world premiere of Beau Dixon’s Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable.

“With her guidance, patience and determination, Kim helped cultivate my craft and gave me a safe platform to explore and grow as an artist,” says Dixon, who is a well-known musician, actor, and playwright. “As a director, she’s fearless, articulate and insightful. She is a fierce leader with relentless passion for producing provocative Canadian theatre.”

Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable opens at the Winslow Farm in Millbrook on Thursday, July 4th. Tickets, gift certificates, and picnics for 4th Line Theatre productions can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445, online at 4thlinetheatre.on.ca, or at 4th Line Theatre’s Box Office at 4 Tupper Street, in Millbrook or its ticket outlet at the Peterborough Museum and Archives at 300 Hunter Street East, Museum Drive in Peterborough.