8 Opinion

La Loche Deserves Respect, Not Judgement

Linda Glover

Guest Contributor

Fou is upon us; yet, I remain captive to the images used to report that information needs to change. Writers The people of La Loche possess incomparable strength and staring back at me, in wonder of the beauty that once are privileged to have their voices heard, but with that resilience and compassion. I know this because they woke

existed. I can’t leave them. They are the portraits painted privilege comes a responsibility, not just to report, but up the next morning: I can’t imagine that I could. And then,

by Fort McMurray artist, Russell Thomas, in spotlighted on a stage in front of a country

honour of the victims of last month’s shootings who didn’t care about them the day before,

in La Loche, Saskatchewan. The colours of , = in ckom.com they went about the business of taking

care, of holding each other up as they prepared for the heart-shattering task of honouring and burying their dead, of moving minute-by-minute into a new reality, their future, thrust upon them by this tragedy.

these once vital lives haunt me, like they should every Canadian whose heart continues to beat. But there is something else.

Iam angry.

The beauty in these portraits is juxtaposed with my disappointment at the lack of compassion in the ongoing media coverage since the January 22 shootings that claimed four lives and injured many others; specifically, the relentless cliché describing La Loche as a community of dysfunction festering beneath

a blanket of alcoholism and addiction,

suicide, unemployment and poverty. Despite its apparent truths, which I would be naive, arrogant and heartless to diminish, if only for the people who suffer its effects, I don’t recall community condemnation used in conjunction with any other school or mass shooting in our country’s history, and there have been many.

Considering this, we would do well to take pause and remember that in every broken person there exists greatness, and in every tragedy there are heroes. I say, be one. Seize the opportunity to tell us more of the local leaders and everyday people, the elders

and youth, the teachers and others, who have stood tall to make a difference. Theirs are the stories that inspire change, that

lift up rather than knock down. Tell us a different story from a more proactive angle. Strength breeds strength. It empowers. And empowered people are capable of anything, especially crawling out from under blankets.

And, in answer to the question posed to Nikki Fraser, a Kamloops mother, by Justin Trudeau during a CBC special, Face to Face with the Prime Minister, which aired two days after his visit to La Loche—“Indigenous lives matter...why should I have to say this in 2016?”—it’s because little has changed.

Let’s honour the lives of Dayne and Drayden Fontaine, Marie Janvier and Adam Wood, the injured, their families and friends, the community of La Loche, our human family, ourselves. In 2016, we need to change our focus and live our hope, our humanity.

The template used to report any tragedy Iam no different than the people of La Loche, in an Aboriginal community too often and neither are you: I, too, have great hope remains the same as it has for decades: The cliché. And, and dream of a better future. But, in this one moment, I’m left sadly, the assertion that these social ills—global, I might to wonder about the portrait not painted, that of the troubled

act upon the opportunity to invoke change. And, for too long, for the most part, in this light, we’ve failed.

add—are the crux of every tragedy that strikes an Aboriginal 17-year-old boy, currently alone in a prison cell and awaiting community, that they are an Aboriginal community, Seventeenth century anthologist, John Bodenham, wrote: his fate. We will likely never understand the why of January in turn an Aboriginal person, only serve to further “Ina little place is hid a great treasure, and ina small 22, but I, for one, wonder, if it was a result of ‘if-it-is, you-are?’ demoralize its people. The message: If-it-is, you-are. hope a boundless expectation.” Four centuries later, his wisdom could " be more relevant i ‘ the only ney If the template had changed, would he have realized a . . to move forward. We have to acknowleage all truths yet i ion? The people who are living this devastating loss deserve focus on the treasure and the boundl oss expe cation hia and hs community's fate have boon different?

better: They are human. We, as citizens, receive our

ap h ; information primarily through the media, and the template within the small hope, to expect and gain progress