Neighbors working on a better way

Page 1

In a part of Prince George's poverty stricken inner-city called the "hood," one man's vision could make life better for many desperate young Aboriginal people.

Donald Prince, the manager of the addiction recovery programs at Carrier Sekani Family Services, is working to open a drop-in centre that will bring health services closer and offer a safe place for Aboriginal youth.

Prince began working to see the drop-in centre happen after his nephew committed suicide. He believes a suicide trend has started in the "hood," an area north of the city's downtown centre that covers about eight square blocks.

In December, 1997 a 20-year-old Aboriginal man hanged himself. The following March, two young Aboriginal men decided to shoot themselves. One lived, although he is permanently confined to a wheel chair.

The other man - Prince's nephew - died. In May another young Aboriginal man shot himself and lived. The bullet passed through his right eye, said Prince.

"I thought, 'Why are they doing this?' I talked to about 40 or 50 of their friends in the neighborhood who told me, 'Why not?' What do we have to live for?'" he said.

Prince says there are currently no services available in the neighborhood and that promotes a feeling of being outsiders, separate from the rest of the city. He believes the dynamics of poverty - the isolation, the shame, the drug and alcohol abuse, the racism - is what keeps these young people from getting help.

In community meetings Prince initiated on his own time, he set out to ask the youth what they needed. That was when the idea for a drop-in center arose. The youth who are about 16 years of age or older, believe there is nowhere for them to go, said Prince. He started writing proposals to buy a house in the neighborhood that could be used as the drop-in centre.

"It is just one area that no one cares about," said D.J., a young man who grew up in the "hood." He said the suicides hit the young people hard, especially when it happens to someone they know.

Then there are the rumors that start after a suicide happens there, said D.J., who remembers what happened when his friend hanged himself in 1995.

He found the rumors surrounding that death disturbing. Some people say they couldn't take it anymore or they were about to rat someone out so they took the easy way, said D.J. For him each person's situation is different and who is to say why they make such a desperate decision.

"Some people do too much drugs and trip out really bad," said D.J.

D.J. heard about the idea for the drop-in centre from a friend and started talking to Prince about it. If we can help a couple of kids it will be worth it, stated D.J. The kids aren't as bad as the adults there, It's a place where no one cares about what happens, he said.

The real estate foundation in Vancouver accepted Prince's proposal to purchase a house for the drop-in centre.

In the eight months since it all began, Prince feels he has come a long way. The next steps that he is taking towards the drop-in centre involves re-zoning the house with the help of city council and securing funding for operations.

"It's a project that is desperately needed in that neighborhood," said Murray Krause, city councillor for Prince George. This neighborhood that has a long standing issues along with concerns of bias from the community members about other services providers, said Krause. Some service providers, like doctors, are not in tune with the issues surrounding people living in poverty, said Krause. He believes all it takes is for one person to have vision and passion and that person is Prince.

Krause indicated the city council is supportive of the drop-in centre and the process of re-zoning is underway. This is one of the neighborhoods in the city that Krause gets the most calls about regarding prostitution, drug dealers and the myriad of related social issues.

"Historically there is much poverty there and there are a lot of Aboriginal people that live in the nighborhood," said Krause.

He believes that the drop-in centre could be a good starting point to resolve some of the problems plaguing the people of the neighborhood. Krause is optimistic the drop-in centre will become a reality, but it looks like it could take a few more months to get everything in place.

Prince is waiting for a meeting with the Ministry of Children and Families regional supervisor, Ted Howard, to discuss a funding arrangement that will secure operations at the drop-in centre for at least two years. We don't want to start something and not be able to carry it through, said Prince.

"I don't know what the blocks are. I know there is money there. Maybe they are testing us to see if we really want this to happen," said Prince.

He hopes that by the end of January, the house will be purchased. The kids are waiting for things to happen, he said.

"I want the kids to be able to say, 'This is ours,' " he said.