HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-01-06, Page 3Wednesday, January 6, 2016 • Huron Expositor 3
Ethiopians late, but another family is coming
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
The Ethiopian migrant family
was set to arrive in Seaforth by
Christmas. At the present time,
Brian Melady is biting his nails in
anticipation waiting for the refu-
gees to reach their Canadian
destination.
Melady, resides in Dublin and is
the founder of the humanitarian
effort known as the Melady-Powers
Seaforth Refugee Sponsorship
Group, a charitable funding that
first broke ground last October. He
said the launching of the project
was exhausting in the beginning.
The venture took a few months to
peek the community's interest but
as time progressed more and more
people became educated, resulting
in "overwhelming" support. Since
then the area has united in hopes
of welcoming the family of five
before December 25 with clothing
donations, food, vehicles and thou-
sands of dollars. Melady is con-
cerned that the delay in the sched-
ule will slow down their drive.
"It must be very frustrating on
many levels. I'm worried we (have)
got all these caring wonderful
people that help and want to
support. But in some point in time
the government needs to deliver us
these people. Or you are going to
have this compassion fatigue set
in," Melady told the Expositor.
"Without any tangible evidence
of what these efforts are being put
into, that becomes a problem. The
crises is such a grand scale, it's
hard to take it personal when you
know other communities are going
through the same thing."
The new PM Justin Trudeau,
promised that 25,000 Syrians
would take refuge by the end of this
year. According to the Government
of Canada, to date only 4400 Syri-
ans have arrived in Canada, a num-
ber that also reflects against the
Ethiopian's Melady said.
"We are nowhere close to the
10,000," Melady said. He also rec-
ognizes those figures are Syrian ref-
ugees, which he has stated numer-
ous times is the main apprehension
the government is dealing with at
the moment.
Notwithstanding the fact that the
Syrian Crisis is receiving a fair
share of the media's attention, the
long-time Seaforth employed
financial advisor's duties are being
noticed in the television world. A
couple of weeks ago CTV London
dropped by to cover the story of the
Ethiopian's coming to Seaforth.
The exposure was noticed by a
church outside of Huron East that
asked to remain anonymous; they
contacted Melady to inform him
that they had enough funds to
sponsor a family as well. By Christ-
mas Eve, the Melady-Powers
Group was "mashed" with a sec-
ond set of refugees, a family of
three also from Ethiopia. Similar to
the first set of refugees, they too are
currently in a refugee camp, one of
Nairobi -Kenya descent.
"I think that's really great that
another community outside of Sea -
forth recognizes this. Instead of
having the ownership in their own
community they (know) this family
is from Ethiopia, it only seemed to
make sense to keep the families
Drug addicts close beds
Jennifer O'Brien
Postmedia Network
The scourge of crystal -meth drug
use has forced a London men's
shelter to shut down its overflow
beds — the last resort for those with
nowhere else to stay — for the first
time this winter.
The street drug has "been a terri-
ble blight on our city," said Doug
Nemeth, manager of London's
Men's Mission.
"We are seeing people who go to
other (shelter) services, and
because of behaviour on the meth
they can't maintain themselves
(and) they are asked to leave. Or,
they can't get into withdrawal
management.
"That's part of the reason we said
we can't continue to have this mas-
sive overflow — we were jamming
20 people in the buildng and our
capacity is 117 Nemeth said.
"(When) you've got four or five
(people) high on meth," he said, "it's
a powder keg sometimes."
The crash -beds program is meant
for emergency short-term stays.
Nemeth said it doesn't come with
the same rules and restrictions as
staying in one of the city's shelters
— the Men's Mission, Rotholme,
Salvation Army Centre of Hope,
Women's Community House or the
Unity Project.
There are 11 crash beds for men
and 10 for women at the site of the
Men's Mission.
But on top of that, the program
has always had an extra five spots
for men and three for women. In
past winters past, demand has
exceeded capacity for all crash beds
and those overflow spots.
"In past, if more people showed
up we'd let them stay with us on a
cot. We'd jam as many people in as
possible to get them out of the cold,"
Nemeth said, "because they had
nowhere else to go."
Instead, the shelter now tries to
find room elsewhere for those seek-
ing overflow spots.
Since August, staff have been
"more assertive" in diverting people
who show up when the crash beds
are at full capacity, he said. Staff will
call around to other shelters in the
city and negotiate stays for those
who have exceeded their time limits
at those places.
"If it's bad weather, we'll send you
via taxi," he said, adding the diver-
sion efforts are also connected to a
new city-wide focus on housing first.
Crystal meth gained a London
foothold after Oxycontin opiod pills,
another drug popular on the streets,
were taken off the market in 2012,
outreach workers say. Back then,
studies showed London had Ontar-
io's highest per -capita opioid use
and overdoses were off the charts.
With Oxy no longer easily availa-
ble, addicts turned to cheaper, easy -
to -get crystal meth, outreach work-
ers
orkers say. Unlike opioids, which are
depressants that slow down the
body, including breathing, crystal
meth is a stimulant. It alters the
brain's neurotransmitters, causing a
euphoric feeling. It also packs seri-
ous side-effects, including anxiety,
paranoia, seizures and stroke -like
symptoms.
London has taken initial steps to
deal with its crystal -meth problem,
but still needs to work out a city-
wide response, says the head of the
region's leading addiction agency.
"We need a much better plan. We
need to put a safety net under
ea orthhuronexsositor.co
Brian Melady and Vicki Powers stand in front of the home in Seaforth that will
be donated rent-free until the Ethiopian refugee family are settled and can take
care of themselves. Currently the humanitarian posse is anxious waiting for
their family that was supposed to arrive before Christmas.
close together," explained Melady.
After mentioning the second
string of immigrants to Melady's
employer, the mother, father and
son will have a place to stay for 6-12
months- a two-bedroom apart-
ment with a "very affordable" rent
payment. The temporary lodging,
which is attached to Melady's place
of employment, will house the fam-
ily until they are financially content
people," Linda Sibley, executive
director of Addiction Services
Thames Valley, said. "If we have a
community -wide response, no one
will fall through the cracks"
As The London Free Press first
reported in May, agencies were then
scrambling to deal with a sudden
onslaught of crystal meth.Even as
frontline workers braced for more
people addicted to the drug, their
agency leaders were calling for a
to take care of themselves.
"It's a really great story that I
wish more people would look at,
this idea of local business owners
that have accommodations that
may be sitting empty and not
rented," he said.
"One family is at 150 Main, the
other family is going to be at 70
Main, both sides of the lights are
covered:'
more co-ordinated response to the
problem.
It took until last fall to get every-
one — from police, to hospitals and
agencies — to the table, Sibley said.
The first response: Making sure
shelter workers get trained to deal
with people addicted to crystal
meth.
Addiction Services plans another
meeting this year to work on a com-
munity -wide plan, Sibley said.
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