Walkers celebrate addictions-free lifestyle

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On a cool, cloudy Monday morning on Nov. 15, hundreds of people attended the 11th annual Join the Circle Rally and Walk Sober in Edmonton.

The event that began at 10 a.m. with a rally at city hall and ended with a walk to the Sacred Heart Church of the First Nations was a way for people to come together and celebrate an addictions-free lifestyle.

The event was put on by Nechi's Training Research and Health Promotions Institute as a kick-off event for National Addictions Awareness Week and to let the city of Edmonton know that sobriety is something to celebrate.

"We need to celebrate those people who are doing well in recovery. We need to acknowledge them. We need to give them a pat on the back, and say 'way to go,'" said Constable Ernie Pudwill, Nechi rally and walk organizer.

"It is a tough road. It is nice to say to people, 'you are doing well. You are doing really good.' By doing that you are also giving other people a possible option, some hope, for them to say 'there are people who can actually live a sober and addictions-free lifestyle. 'If they can do it, maybe I can do it too,'" he said.

At the rally, about 400 people joined hands and formed a circle. A city of Edmonton proclamation supporting the event was read. Entertainment by the White Buffalo Society dancers completed the rally portion.

"City hall went well. The drum group and the dancers performed for two songs," said Constable Pudwill. "Guest speaker, David Languedoc, and Rainbow performed the song Mr. Bojangles and got the crowd involved. It was fun," he said.

Following the rally, hundreds of people walked behind a truck filled with a drum group chanting while the walkers held up banners with sobriety slogans written on them. Along with the crowd who walked, police cars directed traffic and escorted the walkers.

"I think that by having the walk go through the inner city, we do get a nice cross section in. A lot of time the people who are down there are still suffering from addictions, be it alcohol, gambling, drug abuse or solvent abuse. By them seeing the walk, their level of motivation increases," said Pudwill. "They start to think that they want to be a part of the walk too. They may want to be sober and stay sober," he said.

Following the walk, more than 600 people enjoyed a lunch of soup, hot dogs, and bannock.

"Close to six or seven hundred people at the church for lunch, both the Edmonton school board and the Catholic school board are part of our planning committee. They were also invited to attend, so we had a few schools also attend both the rally and the walk," said Leeann Herechuk, acting executive director of Nechi health promotions division.

"There is a big problem with drug and alcohol abuse. I think that it takes away from the family circle, and I think that it is really important that families stay in touch, that they can talk about their problems. Through National Addictions Awareness Week, more people are aware that there is help out there for them if they want to quit drinking or doing drugs. I think that generally more and more people want to be healthy. The idea for National Addictions Awareness Week is for everyone's health. I'd like to see more and more people be open about their illnesses, such as gambling, drugs or alcohol. If they are, then they will find that they are not the only ones going through the healing processes," she said.