Web-based forums talk openly about ‘the elephant in the corner’
 
By Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun, July 5, 2010
 
While most people wouldn’t consider having pneumonia or a broken bone something to be kept secret, the same can’t be said for mental illness.

Admitting to appendicitis or asthma can be easier than saying you suffer from depression, anxiety or other mental illnesses.
It is this stigma that Vancouver’s coming Mental Health Camp is hoping to address with a one-day conference focusing on using social media to help the 20 per cent of Canadians who experience mental illness at some time in their lives and all Canadians who are affected indirectly by it through family, friends and colleagues.

“It is difficult for people to talk about it, in any way at all, even with really close friends,” said Isabella Mori, a counsellor and co-founder with environmental scientist Raul Pacheco-Vega of Mental Health Camp, now in its second year. “It’s only between 30 and 35 per cent of people who have a mental illness who actually ever approach a professional.”

Mori said social media can help deal with the stigma surrounding mental illness by allowing people anonymity and also offering a forum and a place to connect both for those who want to remain anonymous and those who would speak openly about their experiences. “One of the bigger things around this is that so many people have used blogging to help dig themselves out of that stigma,” she said. “It can all start so easily -you can anonymously say something out loud -see what happens when those words are out in the Internet and you don’t even have to attach your name to it.

“It is one of the reasons social media can be a good resource. It gives people an anonymous forum to talk about the fact they are having difficulties, maybe think out loud, and reflect. Because the Internet has become such an interactive forum they can hear from others and they realize, ‘Wow, I am not the only one.’”

Steffani Cameron, a blogger and a speaker at Mental Health Camp, at first wasn’t open about the fact that she was suffering from depression. Then she started talking about it on her blog. “Everybody who follows my blog knows the struggles I have been through,” she said. “Once you start clueing people in, you find everybody has been touched by these things but it is the elephant in the corner and we are still not talking about it.”

Mental Health Camp is Saturday, July 10 at the University of B.C.‘s Aquatic Ecosystem Research Laboratory (AERL), 2202 Main Mall on the UBC campus. More information and registration is online at Mental Health Camp

gshaw@vancouversun.com

The boisterous demonstration featured a large banner proclaiming that “The real vandals are the chiefs of state.” It drew approximately 1,000 participants.

Police were highly visible throughout. One woman was briefly detained and a man on a bicycle was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer, said Sgt. Ian Lafreniere of Montreal police.

In Toronto, several thousand people took part in a peaceful protest at Queen’s Park that later moved to Dundas Street near the Eaton Centre.

Many on hand were those held by police last weekend and who have alleged police brutality, including denying detainees water, food and phone calls, and packing upward of 40 people into a single cell.

Tommy Taylor told the crowd he was on a date with his girlfriend on Saturday when they were both arrested while walking in downtown Toronto. He said all of the portable toilets in the cells had no doors and people were forced to use them in front of each other and could not wipe themselves because they were handcuffed.

“Taking a piss with your hands cuffed gets a little messy,” he said. “It was like some kind of a deranged social experiment.”

Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, says her organization has received close to 100 complaints alleging police misconduct — including harassment, assault and wrongful imprisonment — and is considering a joint lawsuit against many of the police forces involved.

“Ideally, we would hope the federal government would offer a compensation package to not only people wrongfully detained, but also business owners who had their property damaged, so that there would be no need for lawsuits,”

The Toronto Police Service says it has yet to hear any “specific allegations” of officer misconduct during the G20 protests, despite a number of calls from rights groups for a public inquiry.

“Quite frankly, I haven’t seen any specific formal allegation,” Toronto Police Staff Supt. Jeff McGuire said Friday.

“We’ll stand by the things that we did that we felt were appropriate and if there is misconduct identified, it will be dealt with.”

Toronto Police have launched an internal review of their own actions during the summit protests, a process Chief Bill Blair has said will ensure “accountability . . . for every single officer who is deployed on our streets.”

In Winnipeg, some 100 people showed up to protest what they feel were human rights violations by police during the summit.

Former Winnipeg mayoral candidate Kaj Hasselriis called protesting “an important part of our democracy.”

“It’s great to see a huge crowd of people here to support political expression,” he said.

Dozens of protesters held handmade signs reading “Protect the right to dissent,” and “We demand a public inquiry now!” They cried out “Shame!” between points made by speakers criticizing riot police actions, the high taxpayer cost spent on security for the summit, and bogus arrests of peaceful protesters.

Wednesday night in Windsor, Ont., about 30 protesters gathered outside the city’s police headquarters. “We are here . . . to voice our opinion that we will not live in a police state and that we will not be corralled or intimidated by politically motivated police chiefs,” said Jae Muzzin, who was arrested and detained for more than 20 hours for allegedly obstructing a police officer.

“There was no warning to leave the area when suddenly the police began snatching random people from the crowd until all 150 of us were arrested.”

The End Police Brutality protest was held in conjunction with other protests in front of police headquarters throughout Canadian cities and included members from the Marxist-Leninist party, the Council of Canadians and the Windsor Gardening Guerrilla Collective, among others.

—with files from the Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, National Post and Winnipeg Free Press

Two decades later, a new Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grants Project is finally helping him to realize his goal. Bowman was one of 68 artists to receive the funding last April. A partnership between the Vancouver Foundation and the Carnegie Community Centre, the program emerged as a one-year pilot project in 2009 from the need to provide local artists with a funding source. The artists were chosen by a committee of residents and other artists and given amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000, based on their applications.

The project’s main objective was to help emerging artists advance their careers. Those who applied had to indicate in their applications that they would use the grants for business purposes, such as professionally framing their pieces for an exhibit.

“It’s difficult for artists to receive funding unless they are already established,” says Meriko Kubota, the manager of grants and community initiatives at the Vancouver Foundation. “They usually have to be able to present a résumé listing numerous shows and exhibitions.”

The project will launch its Web site on Thursday (June 24), an on-line gallery of the artists’ works. “Not all the artists have the means to share what they’re doing,” says Kubota. “The Web site will give more leverage for them to develop their profiles.”

As individuals instead of established groups, artists aren’t eligible to apply directly to the Vancouver Foundation. It was able to provide funding through the Carnegie centre by allocating $100,000 to the program, of which $65,000 was given to the artists in small grants.

“There’s a real freedom in this neighbourhood,” says Louise Francis-Smith, a photographer who also received a grant. “Everyone is so accepting, but it also has its problems. So in a place with incredible freedom and suffering, creativity flows.”

Francis-Smith’s photographs are intimate vignettes depicting the lives of the residents in Chinatown.

Meanwhile, Bowman now has a telephone and business cards to promote his work because of the grant money.

Another recipient, Colleen Carroll, bought canvases and professional framing, which enabled her to display her work in a show. Carroll paints colourful streetscapes, finding beauty in the architecture and the community of the Downtown Eastside. “I want people to realize that it [this neighbourhood] is not all about what they depict on TV,” says Carroll.

The project ended in April and is being evaluated to determine if it will continue. Although the fate of the program is uncertain, it allowed the Vancouver Foundation to re-examine its funding systems, according to Kubota.

The Web site and the work displayed on it will be showcased at an event on Tuesday (June 29) at Centre A Gallery, beginning at 6 p.m.

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Traumatic pedestrian injury leads to about 4,000 hospitalizations in Canada each year. These injuries often result from the interplay of modifiable or preventable environmental factors. Addressing the environmental factors related to pedestrian injury represents an important public health opportunity.

Pedestrian Safety Report

Article from the Province

Police working during the G20 summit here this month will have rubber bullets, police dogs and sound cannons at their disposal when dealing with protesters.

The Integrated Security Unit, comprising officers from Toronto police, Ontario Provincial Police, Peel Regional Police and the RCMP, on Thursday showed off these tools during a massive security briefing for the media.

The ISU said officers within the downtown-Toronto summit zone — an area around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre that is bordered by a three-metre-high metal fence — will patrol by foot, horseback, bicycle, air and car.

Surveillance will also be carried out by a marine unit on Lake Ontario and with 33 police dogs.

Police on Thursday defended the four controversial sound cannons that were purchased for the summit.

The ISU maintains the long-range acoustic devices (LRADs) will only be used as a “communications tool” and not as a weapon against protesters.

These sound cannons, similar to ones used during last year’s summit in Pittsburgh, can emit an ear-splitting and painful blast of sound of up 140 decibels in some cases, which opponents say makes them more of a crowd control device or weapon than a means of communication.

Toronto police Staff Insp. Bill Neadles, said 24 officers have been trained to use the cannons and they will only send three-to five-second long “alerts” before a message by police is played. Police will use the megaphone function of the cannons to direct crowds.

He said the cannon controversy has been grossly exaggerated.
“It’s not the sound cannon that everyone thought it was,” said Neadles. “We might have to crank that up a little higher to get their attention, but we’re comfortable with it as a communication device. It’s safe and will ensure that we get our message out.”

Three of the cannons are hand-held, each with the capacity of reaching 120 decibels. These will only be used from a three-metre distance from the public and behind a wall of other officers.

All officers will be wearing ear protection, said Neadles.
A fourth, larger sound cannon, which can reach 140 decibels, will be mounted on a boat and used to relay messages from Lake Ontario. The LRADs have the ability to be heard from up to 2.5 kilometres away.

The commonly accepted pain threshold is between 110 and 120 decibels.

Vancouver police also bought one of the devices last year, but after protests disabled the feature allowing it to send painful sounds and said it would be used only as a loud-hailer.

Lt.-Col. Liam McGarry said soldiers will be on foot patrol at Pearson airport and armoured vehicles will be used for surveillance in the outlying areas before and after the summits.
As many as 1,100 private security guards will also be screened and hired to help the ISU inside the buildings where the meetings between the world leaders will take place.

The Harper government estimates the summits could cost $830 million. But Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has since said his government is projecting costs of $930 million.

The bill has ignited a firestorm from Opposition parties, who say the hefty cost is related to poor planning and an overreaction to anticipated security risks during the summits.

For the 2008 G8 summit in Japan, security costs were $381 million, while for the 2009 London G20 summit, security costs were $30 million.

The G20 will be held June 26-27 in Toronto, while the community of Huntsville, north of the city, will host the G8 from June 25-26.

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