Greetings From Nunavut!

I think it's important to remember, it's the motivation that counts, the intention behind what's said. Obviously very difficult to know when something is written, but i don't think it was meant to be harmful - or was in bad taste.

Trisha and Pauline both went through difficult times, and had different crutches at different times, we all do.

I don't disagree that even the smallest statements can have an impact, but that's really up to the person who says it to make that judgment - i don't think anybody has the right to say, "i am disgusted by what you said, you are a hypocrite" - because we're all trying and battling our own delusions.

Therefore, i think it's far more useful to be encouraging, if we notice something that the other person doesn't.

Having said that, everyone's intention writing these comments are for some happy result.

My comment is less about the awesome story by Rae-Lynne and more about Trisha Baptie's final sentence in her comment on Rae-Lynne's story. As someone who only began reading Orato because of the Pickton trial coverage I was disgusted when I read the follwing comment by Trisha Baptie (Orato correspondent for the Pickton trial):

"I'll also bring up some different beer with me to!!

For several months now many of us have read the trial coverage as written by two former sex trade workers. Trisha Baptie and Pauline VanKoll. Trisha you say you are 6 years into your healing and "recovery". What an interesting comment for someone who is a "former" drug user in recovery. We have read accounts of what it is like to be stuck out in the trenches of the DTES using drugs and alcohol to numb yourself while working the streets. We read of your blessing of being able to get off the streets and start a new life for yourself and your children and heal yourself and all the relationships in your life. I can't help but think that you are projecting an image through your writing that is an image you are trying to obtain rather than one you have obtained. Trisha, you say you are 'interested' in other cultures and would love to go visit Nunavut one day to experience their culture (with your beer). If you are in fact so interested then here are a couple of facts for you Trisha. Nunavut, the place you would like to visit and experience has a population of just over 29,000 people, 85% of which are Inuit. They have the highest cost of living in all of Canada and the lowest graduation rate in the country as well. They suffer severe unemployment and a lack of housing which results in overcrowded family households with high stress levels. Nunavut also has a suicide rate that is 8 times higher than that of the national average, and guess what Trisha, substance abuse is generally associated with the completed suicides. Alcohol and marijuanna are the most commonly abused drugs in the communities of Nunavut. However, due to the need to fly in all goods, the alcohol ends up being bootlegged at a price beyond anything we see on the West Coast. A 40 ounce bottle of alcohol can go for around $250! It is not uncommon for households to be emptied out in order for mom and dad to purchase alcohol. Young kids are looking after their younger sibblings while intoxicated parents pass out drunk. These same kids end up learning from what they see and hence the low graduation rates. These kids are either at home looking after their parents and younger siblings or they are skipping school because of their own substance abuse problems. Binge drinking is usually how kids in these communities start, they party for a few days in a row til the supply dries up, then they look for the cheaper, more available substance, pot. In response to the substance abuse problems in the area and the (until recently) lack of services, some communities in Nunavut are dry and alcohol is illegal in their community. Now, having spent 6 years in the DTES surely Trisha you can appreciate the severity of your comment. I have worked in the DTES community at the street level for 15 years and I dont know a single 'former' user who now sits back and has a casual beer with friends. Nor do I know anyone, who is still active in their recovery, that would make a flippant remark about alcohol or drugs because they know, first hand, how destructive these substances have been to them and to their friends. The people that I'm speaking of aren't even people who are, as you put it in one of your first articles:

"...blessed to be able to be a voice for those who as of yet have not been able to find their way out of hell and for those whose voice was taken from them against their will"

They are just everyday people who have been caught in the trap of addiction in the DTES and who have found their way out and who I believe would be much more sensitive in their comments. Lets not forget, the most important component of recovery is honesty.

Thanks so much for your story!
After sending a month up north in a small town called Mackenzie last summer i have become fascinated by life up there. I find it amazing that in one province we can have such different ways of life and such different standards of "normal" everyday life. I found the people up there so amazing and love learning about all the different cultures and traditions amongst the natives up there. It is truly my hearts desire to spend some time in Nunavut so maybe I'll see ya there!
I'll also bring up some different beer with me to!!