Letter: Community losing hope; has nothing to offer

Dear Editor:

My name is Francine. I have worked in the Pacheedaht First Nations community of Port Renfrew for almost six years. We are a small community of 300 First Nations and non-Native community members.

I have been a grateful member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 16 years. We have a small meeting every Monday and Thursday. We have five members. I am contacting you because my heart breaks for the hold alcohol has on this community.

I thought I had seen much but having lived here only a short while I have seen suicides, accidents and broken homes. We are grieving the loss of a beautiful young lady. She hanged herself and, prior to that, there was more binge drinking over a cousin who overdosed, Three weeks prior a man said to have heart failure was in fact another victim of this disease.

This has led to profound grieving in the community and has left staff wringing their hands and losing hope.  Comments have been “this place will never change” while the community continues to try and drown their sorrows, but sorrows float.

It scares me that so many struggle with fetal alcohol syndrome, poverty and generational abuse that there will be more if leadership continues to accept there is nothing we can do. Our community does have support from healthcare, counselling, honoring traditions, as well as educational and work training.
Staff are discouraged that there doesn’t seem to be anything more that they can offer, and have nothing more to give. Please pray for Pacheedaht.  If there is anything you can share with us, I would be so grateful.

My program tells me that there is hope and we are all miracles. If there has ever been a time for renewed hope and direction, it is now.

Thank you in advance for considering the words of so many here.
Francine