Feature Story                                                                       Monday November 28, 2011

The Heart and the Hope

Walk for Peace brings awareness of the toll drugs, alcohol and violence take on the community

Craig Hill/Voice photos

Marchers take to the street for the 5th Annual Walk For Peace November 19th in Chilliwack.

ver a hundred people converged on Five Corners Saturday, November 19 carrying banners and beating drums for what was to be the most powerful statement the community of Chilliwack has made in recent years.

The rally, billed as Walk for Peace, was the fifth for organizers who say the aim is to raise awareness and send a message to the nefarious element that they’re not wanted in the community.

Drugs, alcohol and violence are a huge problem affecting almost every segment of society. The malady knows no racial boundaries or targets any one particular community.

Results of a recent nationwide poll point out that most Native communities see substance abuse as their No. 1 issue, even more so than housing, poverty and unemployment.

One of the organizers of the walk, Austin Underwood, who works as an employment councilor for Triangle Community Resources in Chilliwack, said in a press release earlier that week that “we welcome everyone who shares the belief that drugs and gangsters have no place in any of our communities.”

“I believe that this walk allows the general public to become aware of the needs, now that we’ve established the need, we’re going to take this to the next level where we’re going to start creating programs and we’re going to be negotiating with employers to come onside to be part of the training to help these folks move into employment and a better lifestyle,” Underwood told the Voice the day of the Walk.

Brenda Currie, who recently ran for Chilliwack city council, described to the Voice how the Walk got it's legs.

“The idea for this Walk today started with the people at Skwah Nation at the west end of Wellington Ave., but it sort of blossomed into a community-wide event because, to be quite rightly said, issues to do with drugs alcohol and violence are not specific to one band nation, it’s the whole community,” she said.

When Mayor Sharon Gaetz spoke she echoed Currie’s sentiment.

“When he (Skwah Chief Robert Coombes) came to city hall, he talked about what was happening down I Skwah and said that ‘we needed to organize and we needed to make sure because this is not just an issue that is on Skwah Reserve, it is something that affects our entire community. We want to make sure that we’re saying the right message to the community.”

Chief Coombes told the crowd that he wasn’t responsible for the Walk and that in fact it was a young man’s vision.

“A lot of the young men on the reserve are the ones that started this 5-years ago and I’m proud of them and I’m proud to stand beside them,” said Williams. “We not just doing this for ourselves, we’re doing this for our town and we hope that this is worldwide all around the globe, that we are struggling and we just want to help everyone and let the world know what’s going on.”

“I am just so proud to be up here and standing together with Stó:lō Nation and to send a message to our community that we stand for peace and we stand for everything that is good and true, and violence and drugs have no place in our community.” said Sherry Mumford, director of addictions services for the Fraser Health Authority.

Others bared their souls about how addiction has affected their lives and their family’s well being, and pleaded for people to respond the cries of the community for help.

Aboriginal elder, Arnold Ritchie, who works in Correctional Services for Skwah described how a young man recently committed suicide and the problem he had trying to get a traditional burial because of the way he died.

He related to the crowd how times have changed now from when potlatches were illegal. In1884 Natives weren’t allowed to gather in any kind of numbers for traditional celebrations until amendments were made to the Indian Act the early 1950s.

“At that time, every aboriginal person here would have to have a permit and be registered to gather," said Ritchie.

“We need to bring the healing to the people and with that passionate kindness we will use to overcome something that is wrecking our relationships with one another,” said Eddie Gardiner, retired Stó:lō health worker and cultural advisor. “All of us, each and every one of us reach within ourselves and make a resolution that we’ll never give up and that we, collectively, can make a difference.”

Before the Walk began there was a moment of silence for those lost their battles to drugs and alcohol.

All along the route, curious residents popped their heads out of doors and windows as the euphonious crush ambled down Wellington Ave., drumming and singing traditional songs led by the Williams family.

When walkers arrived at the Skwah Reserve, they formed a large circle where a fancy dancer and grass dancers performed and where another speaker addressed the crowd.

Inside, coffee and baked items were offered and while folks rested, Squamish band member Tumkane aka Ross Muehlfarth, spoke about domestic violence and what men’s role in the community should be.

“We are survivors. We are protectors. That is our responsibility to our lifegivers. The homes that we share with our lifegivers should be the safest place in the world for them. There should never be fear in the eyes of our lifegivers. We put that fear there. That is not what men do.”

“So as men, I can only speak for the men, we have a responsibility to each other, to the lifegivers who are in our lives, because they should not live in fear of us because we put that fear there in an ugly way. This is not strength. It’s easy to be mean and ugly and we’ve all learned that very well,” said Muehlfarth. “This world has taught us. It takes true strength to be gentle, to be caring, to be loving, to be sensitive, to be empathetic, not only to our lifegivers, but to each other as men as well. To allow the tears, that we have the same emotions as women, that we are no different. We’re the same, that’s why we’re human beings. If I deny my tears, I must deny my humanity and that only makes me less of a person and less of a man. But if I hurt, tears are healing and this is what we as men need to learn to do.”

“So batterers come up, walk for peace, end violence. We have these beliefs and values that we have learned in this world. It’s important to examine and question what those beliefs and values are. Not all are negative as you start this, but we need to look at the ones that are. This is what peace is about. That safety needs to start in the home,” he said.

“It’s really great to see our communities come together. The community of people that learn to work with one another, to learn to live with one another until we get to know each other and we learn about what each other has and what we carry. We may do things in a different way but the meaning and purposes are all the same. We’re all the same.”.

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