Shownotes
Two comrades from Lloydminster/Vermillion, Tigra-Lee Campbell and Des Bissonnette, share stories of finding solidarity and creating meaningful supportive spaces in rural Alberta and Saskatchewan with host Jessa McLean.
Keep up with the guests here:
Transcripts
Greetings, rabble rousers.
Speaker:My name is Jessa McLean, and welcome
Speaker:to Blueprints for Disruption,
Speaker:a weekly discussion dedicated to
Speaker:amplifying activism across Turtle
Speaker:Island.
Speaker:Together, we will examine tactics,
Speaker:explore motivations, and celebrate
Speaker:successes in disrupting the status
Speaker:quo.
Speaker:This podcast is a proud part of
Speaker:New Left media.
Speaker:Greetings. This episode of
Speaker:Blueprints features a discussion
Speaker:with community activists Tigra
Speaker:Lee and Dez.
Speaker:They share what it's like advocating
Speaker:for anti-black racism and
Speaker:anti-indigenous racism in
Speaker:rural Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Speaker:These two amazing women have
Speaker:persevered and created something
Speaker:very special in their community.
Speaker:Let's listen.
Speaker:So good morning and welcome
Speaker:to the podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker:Thanks for having us.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:Excellent.
Speaker:Yay.
Speaker:So I hate introducing people and not
Speaker:doing it right. So I'm going to
Speaker:leave that up to you two wonderful
Speaker:people.
Speaker:But Dez, I asked you
Speaker:on the podcast, thank you for
Speaker:agreeing because of the work you do
Speaker:in Alberta. I have no idea what it's
Speaker:like being an activist in Alberta.
Speaker:I'm from Ontario, so I'll ask
Speaker:you a bit about that later.
Speaker:But the first thing you said was,
Speaker:I want to bring Tigra Lee
Speaker:on with me. Let me see when she's
Speaker:available.
Speaker:Why why was this so important?
Speaker:She come with you today?
Speaker:So I'll start off telling you how I
Speaker:met Tigra, because it is, like, such
Speaker:a fun little story.
Speaker:She was she's been an activist in
Speaker:our community for a while.
Speaker:And she was putting on some events,
Speaker:especially during the summer of
Speaker:2021, for things
Speaker:like Every Child Matters and
Speaker:for solidarity with missing and
Speaker:murdered indigenous women
Speaker:and solidarity with like that
Speaker:the family in London who
Speaker:was shot or ran over as well.
Speaker:And so I was attending these events
Speaker:and at that time I knew I was
Speaker:running for the NDP and I was like,
Speaker:I need to connect with like leftists
Speaker:here because everybody around us is
Speaker:conservative.
Speaker:And so I went up and I met Tigra
Speaker:and I introduced myself to her, and
Speaker:I was like, Hey, like, we should
Speaker:have a conversation later and start
Speaker:doing some activist stuff together.
Speaker:And it was kind of awkward.
Speaker:And so we had a Zoom meeting where
Speaker:we started.
Speaker:I got to tell this is so funny that
Speaker:I was thinking about this last night
Speaker:and we had a Zoom meeting where we
Speaker:were talking about doing different
Speaker:kinds of things in our community
Speaker:and Tigra, it kind of was super
Speaker:awkward and she's like, Yeah, so
Speaker:I just need to let you know, like, I
Speaker:don't know how you feel about police
Speaker:or anything. And I was like, Oh, I'm
Speaker:an abolitionist.
Speaker:Absolutely. And so since then, we've
Speaker:been like, like, so tight.
Speaker:She's testing the.
Speaker:Waters.
Speaker:She's like, I don't know.
Speaker:Like, this girl is, like, whiter
Speaker:than white bread. Like, I don't know
Speaker:how she's going to feel when I talk
Speaker:about police, but we
Speaker:had this really great vibe and
Speaker:I just I love her so much.
Speaker:She is such an important part of our
Speaker:community.
Speaker:Tigra does so many amazing things
Speaker:for the unhoused people of our
Speaker:community and for people who
Speaker:just don't have access to anything
Speaker:or people who are down on their
Speaker:luck. Tecra is there consistently
Speaker:and doing everything that she can,
Speaker:and I feel sometimes that my
Speaker:work doesn't translate in the same
Speaker:way that hers does.
Speaker:And because she's so important to
Speaker:our community and because the work
Speaker:she does is just so like it inspires
Speaker:me and it's so critical to me,
Speaker:I can't help but show her off.
Speaker:I have to bring her along, if you
Speaker:like. Look at look at Tara.
Speaker:Look at Tara. She's amazing.
Speaker:And she proves it every single time
Speaker:I get to chat with her.
Speaker:And she's she's just so helpful to
Speaker:me and such an important part of my
Speaker:activism and my journey
Speaker:that I could not bring her with me.
Speaker:I mean, your energy level just kind
Speaker:of an extra ante when
Speaker:you start talking.
Speaker:I hope you guys feed off of each
Speaker:other in that way because we
Speaker:all need we all need comrades like
Speaker:that.
Speaker:There's this, like, the best people.
Speaker:Woman Like you guys
Speaker:would be everywhere.
Speaker:Can you introduce me?
Speaker:Oh, yes.
Speaker:Secretly, everyone's for office.
Speaker:I mean, you need to be at every door
Speaker:ahead of her, right?
Speaker:Yeah. Seriously?
Speaker:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker:Tigra, we've heard why Des loves you
Speaker:so much, but you want to give us,
Speaker:like, a bit of a more of a official
Speaker:introduction of of who you are.
Speaker:Sure. What you do.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay, so I'm
Speaker:like this said and you said my name
Speaker:is Tigra Lee.
Speaker:I am an activist here in
Speaker:Lloydminster and I'm co-founder
Speaker:of a group called Lloydminster and
Speaker:Vermilion for Equity Foundation.
Speaker:We are a registered nonprofit
Speaker:that officially got
Speaker:nonprofit status
Speaker:last November.
Speaker:We operated for about a year
Speaker:before we had our nonprofit status,
Speaker:so that was really exciting.
Speaker:We originally formed
Speaker:after the death of George Floyd,
Speaker:so we had
Speaker:a protest and by
Speaker:we, I mean like myself
Speaker:and my other group members, I have
Speaker:there's three other group members
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:And we had a protest
Speaker:in Vermillion and.
Speaker:We knew that we had to keep the
Speaker:conversation going.
Speaker:And so we decided
Speaker:to have weekly roundtable
Speaker:meetings
Speaker:and invite the community out of
Speaker:Vermillion.
Speaker:And then we switched
Speaker:it to having one in Vermillion and
Speaker:one in Lloydminster and just kind of
Speaker:switching off weeks
Speaker:and.
Speaker:Yeah. There were a lot of weeks
Speaker:where nobody came out there.
Speaker:There were a lot of our events
Speaker:where.
Speaker:We had a lot of backlash.
Speaker:Like does said, we live in a very
Speaker:conservative area.
Speaker:And it was it
Speaker:was difficult to get off
Speaker:the ground. But
Speaker:so far, we have
Speaker:really started to
Speaker:impact our community by
Speaker:supporting and amplifying the
Speaker:voices of the unhoused
Speaker:and just marginalized
Speaker:community here and in Loyd.
Speaker:So that's where my passion
Speaker:is social justice,
Speaker:mutual aid,
Speaker:anti-racism, but
Speaker:building diverse and equitable
Speaker:spaces.
Speaker:That's really where my passion is.
Speaker:I am also
Speaker:an entrepreneur and a mom
Speaker:of three.
Speaker:I also work full time, so
Speaker:there is a lot going
Speaker:on at all times.
Speaker:So
Speaker:but it is rewarding.
Speaker:It's thankless, but it's rewarding.
Speaker:So yeah, it's a bit about
Speaker:me.
Speaker:Well, I thank you for doing that
Speaker:work and
Speaker:I don't know how you do it.
Speaker:It's quite up. And I ask like if
Speaker:there were a thousand youths,
Speaker:what would you want them all doing?
Speaker:I feel like there might be a
Speaker:thousand.
Speaker:Who know.
Speaker:It's just too much to grow.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker:I think I personally want a thousand
Speaker:tea groups.
Speaker:But.
Speaker:There's your faith club chip in in
Speaker:it.
Speaker:So you talked about forming
Speaker:a large bulk of this in the wake of
Speaker:George Floyd's murder.
Speaker:And I think a lot of communities
Speaker:saw action
Speaker:get in in the weeks, in the
Speaker:months,
Speaker:even small towns, you know, here
Speaker:where I'm in rural Ontario.
Speaker:So I do kind of
Speaker:live in a similar, I think, level of
Speaker:community when it comes to
Speaker:tolerance and levels of racism.
Speaker:So it was nice that we did have we
Speaker:were able to have some action here,
Speaker:but I think having something
Speaker:sustained following it is
Speaker:what others struggled to do.
Speaker:Why do you think and then I know
Speaker:some of your meetings, you say like
Speaker:maybe nobody's there and not it's
Speaker:not always.
Speaker:A measurable success.
Speaker:Right. But what do you think you did
Speaker:that allowed you to kind of sustain
Speaker:and build on that and create the
Speaker:the the Equity Foundation
Speaker:for Lloyd and Vermillion?
Speaker:So it was it
Speaker:was disheartening at first because
Speaker:especially with my type of
Speaker:personality, like you want to be, go
Speaker:to everything and
Speaker:be as direct
Speaker:and hard hitting as possible and
Speaker:reach as many people as possible.
Speaker:But when you're dealing
Speaker:with communities
Speaker:that are so established, you know,
Speaker:many have the same
Speaker:like founding families that
Speaker:settled here.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's hard to change
Speaker:viewpoints, especially when you're
Speaker:coming in with something new.
Speaker:So to stay to stay positive
Speaker:and really remember that what
Speaker:you're building is trust.
Speaker:You're building trust with other
Speaker:community members.
Speaker:You're building trust with the
Speaker:vulnerable community as
Speaker:well.
Speaker:Many people that have been silenced
Speaker:for so long, they don't
Speaker:feel the need to reach out for
Speaker:support or they don't feel
Speaker:like society really has
Speaker:their back.
Speaker:It really takes time.
Speaker:So that was what that
Speaker:was what really pushed me forward
Speaker:that I had, you know, group members
Speaker:that were like, what's the point of
Speaker:those to grow? Like, we're not
Speaker:moving forward.
Speaker:Nobody's coming out, we're not
Speaker:reaching anybody.
Speaker:And then it took probably
Speaker:like.
Speaker:Probably about a solid year
Speaker:for.
Speaker:People like our
Speaker:community members to
Speaker:really realize and come to terms
Speaker:with, you know, we're
Speaker:not calling our entire town
Speaker:racist. We're not going every single
Speaker:person racist.
Speaker:We're really just trying to address
Speaker:serious issues that.
Speaker:Impacts all of
Speaker:the world, really, not just
Speaker:our own community.
Speaker:And, you know, because it's not so
Speaker:cold. It's not so over,
Speaker:you know, people unless you're
Speaker:white supremacy guy or white power
Speaker:guy out in Vermillion,
Speaker:it's it is more covert here.
Speaker:And I feel like that's harder to
Speaker:navigate.
Speaker:But I just really tried to
Speaker:stay positive, persevere,
Speaker:pull from the supports
Speaker:that I have created over the past
Speaker:couple of years here and
Speaker:and really push forward.
Speaker:And when we started
Speaker:to get a
Speaker:lot of backlash really from the
Speaker:communities of White and
Speaker:Vermillion.
Speaker:Somebody said something to me that
Speaker:really hit home and
Speaker:they said to me,
Speaker:this is the response.
Speaker:This is the response that you're
Speaker:looking for.
Speaker:If you weren't getting this response
Speaker:and there wouldn't be an issue, you
Speaker:wouldn't be impacting people
Speaker:like you are right now.
Speaker:So I really took that and
Speaker:I really kept that close to me.
Speaker:So when times did get tough, you
Speaker:know, when we were getting death
Speaker:threats and people were coming
Speaker:to our events
Speaker:to just disrupt
Speaker:and really hold on to that and,
Speaker:you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker:really come home and debrief and,
Speaker:you know, okay, you know, it was
Speaker:hard, but you got through it and
Speaker:tomorrow's another day.
Speaker:That's a that's a theme.
Speaker:I've definitely heard from a lot of
Speaker:activists, not that
Speaker:you're not sharing something new,
Speaker:but just that it's
Speaker:it's just so critical to build trust
Speaker:in the community first, right
Speaker:before you kind of do that work.
Speaker:And Des
Speaker:spoke earlier, I think you do
Speaker:something to grab that you didn't
Speaker:mention, but you, I believe, kind of
Speaker:act like a beacon also for
Speaker:progressives and people looking to
Speaker:join in this fight does
Speaker:mention and maybe
Speaker:you can talk to that experience
Speaker:moving to Alberta and trying to find
Speaker:other progressives
Speaker:to work alongside.
Speaker:I know as you ran for the NDP, so
Speaker:I guess that allowed people to
Speaker:kind of probably come to you and
Speaker:understand that there was another a
Speaker:socialist in
Speaker:town.
Speaker:But do you feel the grid does that?
Speaker:And is that work important?
Speaker:Is it hard to find allies
Speaker:in Alberta?
Speaker:It's you know, it's really
Speaker:interesting because I
Speaker:like I've been around a lot of
Speaker:Lakeland as a riding and
Speaker:through a lot of northern Alberta.
Speaker:I'm pretty well traveled through the
Speaker:province and
Speaker:I've met all sorts of different
Speaker:people and especially during the
Speaker:election, like talking about
Speaker:different kinds of issues.
Speaker:I find that people
Speaker:aren't really that afraid
Speaker:of leftist policies or leftist
Speaker:ideas.
Speaker:They just don't understand most
Speaker:of the time.
Speaker:And especially in small rural
Speaker:communities where it's predominantly
Speaker:white, they just don't have a lot of
Speaker:exposure to other people and
Speaker:to other ways of being
Speaker:other communities, other ideologies.
Speaker:And so it tends to be like when
Speaker:you start talking to certain people
Speaker:about anything progressive,
Speaker:you can usually get them on a couple
Speaker:of, you know, things like I
Speaker:agree that like we should have, that
Speaker:we should have this.
Speaker:But it's, it's really like.
Speaker:I would say it's harder to find
Speaker:somebody who has all of the same
Speaker:ideas or more
Speaker:left ideas.
Speaker:I find people are really in that
Speaker:centrist camp or like
Speaker:no political home, but they have
Speaker:ideas and they have an idea that
Speaker:they want society to be.
Speaker:They just don't know how to get
Speaker:there.
Speaker:Honestly, if anything,
Speaker:I think I've had an easier
Speaker:experience finding progressives in
Speaker:the community, mostly because
Speaker:I am quite white compared
Speaker:to a teacher like teachers
Speaker:experience going door to door during
Speaker:the election.
Speaker:Getting signatures for me was
Speaker:such a different experience to me,
Speaker:going alone and going door to door
Speaker:and the experience that she and I
Speaker:had together, going door to door
Speaker:together was different than my alone
Speaker:experience and her alone experience.
Speaker:And so I think, honestly, it's
Speaker:almost easier for me to find other
Speaker:people in my camp because I have
Speaker:I have that whiteness that really
Speaker:protects me in a way that not
Speaker:a lot of people who are in
Speaker:this line of work tend to have.
Speaker:And it's it's
Speaker:a barrier, I think, in Alberta and
Speaker:in Saskatchewan that really has to
Speaker:to be broken down by people like me
Speaker:who are educated and who have that
Speaker:privilege and who can enter those
Speaker:spaces and start breaking down those
Speaker:walls.
Speaker:But I find it easier
Speaker:just as a just
Speaker:because I can kind of hide
Speaker:my marginalized identities, really,
Speaker:which isn't a good a
Speaker:good thing by any means.
Speaker:But it is unfortunately a reality in
Speaker:Alberta.
Speaker:Do you find
Speaker:a lot of the comments that we've had
Speaker:earlier, too, was in our circles,
Speaker:even in our progressive circles.
Speaker:There's a lot of decolonizing to do
Speaker:within those circles.
Speaker:So you may find other progressives,
Speaker:but there's still work to do there.
Speaker:Right. Forget about the broader
Speaker:community.
Speaker:Do you find that the same
Speaker:degree?
Speaker:Do you do you feel like you do a
Speaker:lot of heavy lifting as.
Speaker:As an activist to kind of make
Speaker:sure you're surrounded by
Speaker:folks that are you know, they
Speaker:understand. I know the way you kind
Speaker:of tested. Des And am
Speaker:I, you know, you're not going to
Speaker:bring cops to the rally, right?
Speaker:We don't get permits.
Speaker:Yeah, it's true.
Speaker:Like, so when I.
Speaker:Yeah, when I first met does she was
Speaker:running for the for NDP
Speaker:and.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:I don't know you guys, you kind of
Speaker:touched on it where, you know, we
Speaker:don't really have I don't really fit
Speaker:anywhere politically, I feel
Speaker:and if
Speaker:I'm like at that time, if I was
Speaker:to vote, it would have been NDP
Speaker:if I was to vote or
Speaker:Green Party.
Speaker:And just hearing
Speaker:the amount of ridiculousness
Speaker:that the Green Party was going
Speaker:through at the time.
Speaker:And I had a couple friends actually
Speaker:that were a part of that whole
Speaker:hotness, like, I don't even know, I
Speaker:don't even want to touch on that.
Speaker:It was ridiculous, but.
Speaker:So when I met Dias and,
Speaker:and she's like, Yeah, I'm going to
Speaker:run for NDP.
Speaker:And then I made that comment like,
Speaker:I don't really know if, you know,
Speaker:like we're going to 100%
Speaker:online because I'm very anti
Speaker:anti-cop and she's like, Oh, we're
Speaker:abolitionists here.
Speaker:I'm like, Girl that says
Speaker:some. We are best friends now.
Speaker:And because
Speaker:it is, it is hard.
Speaker:You find progressives
Speaker:or you find other socialists
Speaker:or leftists that have
Speaker:some of the same
Speaker:viewpoints and ideologies.
Speaker:But, you know, when you say
Speaker:defund or abolish, they
Speaker:just get all squirrely.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:So it's though
Speaker:there's certain topics, you know,
Speaker:that you can't you kind
Speaker:of do have to test them like I'm
Speaker:going to say this and I'm going to
Speaker:judge you based on this response.
Speaker:So it.
Speaker:But you once like
Speaker:once you once you get into
Speaker:activism, you find many,
Speaker:many like minded people.
Speaker:It's just how like minded they are.
Speaker:But there is,
Speaker:like, anti-black and
Speaker:anti-indigenous.
Speaker:Racism is so prevalent
Speaker:no matter what circle you're in.
Speaker:There's so much unlearning to do.
Speaker:White supremacy
Speaker:runs so rampant and nobody's
Speaker:impervious to it.
Speaker:The decolonization that you touched
Speaker:on 100% does need to happen
Speaker:and up
Speaker:outside of doing
Speaker:this work in the community.
Speaker:You're up against other
Speaker:outside community members that
Speaker:truly don't understand your purpose
Speaker:and understand
Speaker:your your mission.
Speaker:But we have to deal with lateral
Speaker:violence within the socialist
Speaker:and leftist communities as well,
Speaker:whether that be stereotypes,
Speaker:racism, lateral violence,
Speaker:you know, anti queerness
Speaker:and just
Speaker:like various different things.
Speaker:So
Speaker:support, supports of broad support
Speaker:is really what you need.
Speaker:And yeah,
Speaker:I found a lot of like minded people,
Speaker:but.
Speaker:You. You have to build barriers
Speaker:still, regardless
Speaker:of how much you relate to that, that
Speaker:one person just to keep yourself
Speaker:safe. Because once you start
Speaker:to burn out, it's
Speaker:so hard to get back on
Speaker:the right track and doesn't.
Speaker:I've been there multiple
Speaker:times together within the past
Speaker:couple of years here,
Speaker:but it like she.
Speaker:She. I feel very, very comfortable
Speaker:with her because there is not many
Speaker:people to that.
Speaker:You can see that like, hey, I'm
Speaker:burnt out so many times.
Speaker:Like we made plans and you
Speaker:know, we're on the same level
Speaker:where it's like we have plans, but
Speaker:I'll cancel or she cancels and
Speaker:I don't I can't speak for you does.
Speaker:But sometimes I'm like, yes,
Speaker:I just need to do that.
Speaker:The worst thing about being an
Speaker:activist is just how absolutely
Speaker:exhausting.
Speaker:Life.
Speaker:Gets after a while, especially
Speaker:just as we watch capitalism
Speaker:failing more and more every day.
Speaker:I think it just takes so much out of
Speaker:us. And it it's really important to
Speaker:find people who you can cancel plans
Speaker:with.
Speaker:And I'm so glad I have you.
Speaker:I love you so much.
Speaker:I love you so much, too.
Speaker:It's true, though.
Speaker:Yeah. You do have people that you
Speaker:can just be be your 100%
Speaker:authentic self.
Speaker:And I think that's a lot of the
Speaker:learning, too, that I've learned in
Speaker:the last the last few
Speaker:years. Here is how like to
Speaker:the amount of unlearning
Speaker:that every single one of us has to
Speaker:do.
Speaker:That in itself is exhausting as
Speaker:well.
Speaker:That kind of inner work.
Speaker:But I mean, that burnout is real and
Speaker:it's so nice that you can lean on
Speaker:each other.
Speaker:I can attest that there's always a
Speaker:few close comrades where they just
Speaker:no, there's no explanation
Speaker:needed. It's I'm bailing.
Speaker:But, you know, think about before
Speaker:we started recording how many
Speaker:and even then what Dez and
Speaker:you have listed how many issues
Speaker:just you
Speaker:are fighting or
Speaker:have advocated for.
Speaker:You know, you're talking about missing
Speaker:and murdered Indigenous women,
Speaker:housing advocacy, anti-black
Speaker:racism, anti-indigenous racism,
Speaker:the harms of the residential
Speaker:schools, and unpacking that,
Speaker:plus the pressures of capitalism
Speaker:that you're fighting and
Speaker:being bombarded with daily.
Speaker:So kudos
Speaker:to you for being able to sustain
Speaker:that work for so long, for operating
Speaker:with your nonprofit status.
Speaker:And like just that push through.
Speaker:I mean, not everybody can do that,
Speaker:especially during these
Speaker:circumstances.
Speaker:The pandemic has sucked a lot of
Speaker:energy out of a lot of so,
Speaker:you know, be so proud of
Speaker:that work that you're doing.
Speaker:And let's let's talk a little more
Speaker:about the work specifically.
Speaker:You talked about amplifying
Speaker:the voices of the unhoused and
Speaker:other members of your community that
Speaker:are otherwise marginalized.
Speaker:How do you do that?
Speaker:You know, you don't grab a
Speaker:megaphone. How do we amplify those
Speaker:voices while remaining respectful of
Speaker:their situation?
Speaker:And so I do agree with Megan.
Speaker:She does have a megaphone.
Speaker:She totally does.
Speaker:One. I go to Brand.
Speaker:My husband bought me a brand
Speaker:new megaphone.
Speaker:Oh, that's love.
Speaker:Yeah. One time I was, like, so
Speaker:excited. I started marching
Speaker:throughout my house, Black Lives
Speaker:Matter and my dogs started
Speaker:howling. I was like, This is
Speaker:perfect.
Speaker:I love your dog. Such a good ally.
Speaker:Right? She's so great.
Speaker:We so we do
Speaker:a mutual aid outreach
Speaker:once a week called LV
Speaker:Street Team.
Speaker:My good friend Claire.
Speaker:I'll give her a shout out.
Speaker:Claire She
Speaker:is a co-founder of
Speaker:Water Warriors y
Speaker:e g and in Edmonton
Speaker:and I got the opportunity to meet
Speaker:her at a few protests
Speaker:in counter-protests and
Speaker:her energy and spirit was just
Speaker:awesome. And
Speaker:they had a little,
Speaker:I don't know, like Sidecar
Speaker:of Water Warriors called
Speaker:Water Wings in the
Speaker:not last summer, but the summer
Speaker:before when we had a really
Speaker:hot heat wave.
Speaker:And so to my
Speaker:other co-founder, his name is Brad,
Speaker:I was like, hey, you know, we should
Speaker:go around with water.
Speaker:Like, people aren't able to get
Speaker:inside.
Speaker:They're not.
Speaker:I know that our men's
Speaker:shelter and our drop
Speaker:in center, they were only operating
Speaker:at like a third capacity or
Speaker:half capacity
Speaker:and they weren't able
Speaker:to just just water, just
Speaker:to get water. It was super hot
Speaker:outside. So
Speaker:we put a call out for
Speaker:some rollable
Speaker:coolers and
Speaker:we filled it with ice and water and
Speaker:we went out and we just started
Speaker:giving out water and then we started
Speaker:bringing snacks.
Speaker:So we started water and snacks and
Speaker:we're like, you know, we need
Speaker:sandwiches.
Speaker:So we started water snacks and
Speaker:sandwiches and we
Speaker:then we got donated
Speaker:collapsible wagon.
Speaker:And so obviously we had to
Speaker:stuff as much stuff in there
Speaker:as we could to bring out.
Speaker:So we got socks, toothbrushes,
Speaker:toothpaste
Speaker:like hygiene products, feminine
Speaker:care products.
Speaker:Just put as much stuff in
Speaker:this wagon as we possibly could.
Speaker:Are these all donations?
Speaker:How do you.
Speaker:Well, yes, they were donations,
Speaker:but a lot of it came out of our own
Speaker:pockets as well, like much
Speaker:of it came out of our own pockets.
Speaker:But that also ties back into
Speaker:building trust like we would
Speaker:put out calls for on
Speaker:like our community Facebook pages
Speaker:for different products and stuff.
Speaker:But until
Speaker:we became a little bit more
Speaker:established in the in the community
Speaker:and, you know, people could
Speaker:see what
Speaker:their donations were going towards,
Speaker:it took a bit of time to start
Speaker:getting monetary donations in which
Speaker:we have a bit now.
Speaker:So that's good. It really helps out,
Speaker:but a lot of it still does come out
Speaker:of our own pockets.
Speaker:But so
Speaker:this was in we worked we worked
Speaker:right into the winter
Speaker:and outside.
Speaker:We were just outside at City Hall
Speaker:and then we got clothing donations.
Speaker:So we every weekend we went out to
Speaker:City Hall, set up two tables.
Speaker:We would have our bag lunches,
Speaker:our clothing donation items,
Speaker:and then we'd just have them out.
Speaker:So then how is community
Speaker:members? Many we see
Speaker:the same people mostly every
Speaker:week. There are some new people that
Speaker:we get to see.
Speaker:So they knew they we would show
Speaker:up to City Hall and they would be
Speaker:there waiting for us.
Speaker:And
Speaker:now, during the cold months, my
Speaker:good friend Tyler, he
Speaker:runs Residents
Speaker:and Recovery and
Speaker:which is our recovery center
Speaker:here in Lloyd. So I
Speaker:asked if we could use his space
Speaker:to set up during the winter time
Speaker:and he said, Yeah, so now we're in
Speaker:there every Sunday,
Speaker:which is nice because
Speaker:with COVID there wasn't many spaces.
Speaker:The drop in center had closed
Speaker:actually, so there weren't many
Speaker:spaces for them to go
Speaker:and be warm, take a rest,
Speaker:just sit down
Speaker:and have something warm to eat in
Speaker:their belly. And a good conversation
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:Good conversation to have somebody
Speaker:that's there that's going to listen
Speaker:to them.
Speaker:I was
Speaker:a part of that community and house
Speaker:community in Edmonton
Speaker:before I moved to Lloydminster
Speaker:and I
Speaker:was in active addiction for ten
Speaker:years when I moved
Speaker:here and I got clean and sober.
Speaker:So a lot of these
Speaker:a lot of what I tried to do
Speaker:is.
Speaker:Out of
Speaker:like experience from my own
Speaker:experience and what I what I
Speaker:appreciated
Speaker:and what what I would have like to
Speaker:see.
Speaker:Also, the work we do is
Speaker:100% with the
Speaker:unhoused and the vulnerable
Speaker:community members in the forefront.
Speaker:They tell us what they need.
Speaker:They tell us what
Speaker:they would appreciate.
Speaker:They tell us
Speaker:what's happening to them within
Speaker:the community so that we
Speaker:are able to advocate for them,
Speaker:whether that be housing,
Speaker:whether that be harm reduction,
Speaker:whether that be like any other
Speaker:like social issues
Speaker:we can try.
Speaker:Since we're so new,
Speaker:we don't have to too much capacity,
Speaker:but we do try and do what we can.
Speaker:One kind of theme I'm picking
Speaker:up as you're talking is asking
Speaker:so you make really bold asks
Speaker:of of your allies, of the community.
Speaker:Right, to enable what you do.
Speaker:But you also ask the people
Speaker:you're working with.
Speaker:That's a lot of listening.
Speaker:A lot of activism sometimes doesn't
Speaker:include that.
Speaker:I mean, good activism does.
Speaker:But quite often, especially
Speaker:in political spaces, we get talked
Speaker:at a lot.
Speaker:Des Is this you know, this is not
Speaker:a typical political approach,
Speaker:the listening right from our
Speaker:experiences within the NDP,
Speaker:do you feel like these are more
Speaker:productive spaces for you
Speaker:than going door to door as a
Speaker:political candidate?
Speaker:Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:I think especially now as
Speaker:I mean, like last year, I
Speaker:think we were in a completely
Speaker:different state in terms
Speaker:of social and political
Speaker:relations among everybody.
Speaker:It's become so much
Speaker:more polarized, so much faster
Speaker:than any of us really thought it
Speaker:could in just a short year.
Speaker:I mean, we're not even a full year
Speaker:out from the election.
Speaker:And the political ideas
Speaker:that were around in September have
Speaker:escalated so much.
Speaker:And so I honestly like for
Speaker:myself now, I don't know if I can
Speaker:even operate in politics because
Speaker:it's just very obviously
Speaker:not working and it hasn't been
Speaker:working. But what's great does
Speaker:and what Tigra is passionate
Speaker:about and what she gives to our
Speaker:community, that's what
Speaker:works. And it works for the people
Speaker:of our community.
Speaker:It works for like the
Speaker:way that our community is really
Speaker:Lloydminster and Vermillion where
Speaker:we're really tight communities.
Speaker:Like we're small communities and
Speaker:there's already that like,
Speaker:I mean, you know how it is in rural,
Speaker:everybody's kind of friends with
Speaker:each other, but like only if
Speaker:you're, you know,
Speaker:like we're the same color.
Speaker:We're going to be friends if you're
Speaker:a foreigner.
Speaker:Parentheses I'm not going to be as
Speaker:nice to you because I'm a rural
Speaker:person. But Teeger, as
Speaker:work changes that she that
Speaker:changes that atmosphere, that
Speaker:creates that inclusion, it creates
Speaker:that that basis
Speaker:for equity and politics
Speaker:can't just straight up it can't
Speaker:because because it doesn't listen it
Speaker:doesn't take real democracy
Speaker:into consideration on how an entire
Speaker:community feels.
Speaker:It doesn't take the time to
Speaker:familiarize itself with the
Speaker:community in the way that politics
Speaker:realistically we would expect it to
Speaker:being a service that serves the
Speaker:people right.
Speaker:And that's just why I just love what
Speaker:L.D. does so much and want to or
Speaker:does, because, like
Speaker:Teeger took exactly what
Speaker:needed to be done in our community
Speaker:and just started freakin doing it.
Speaker:And nobody can really say that.
Speaker:And, you know, I can't even say
Speaker:that.
Speaker:And I feel
Speaker:like so inspired and just so
Speaker:incredibly energized
Speaker:by the work that she does genuinely
Speaker:like. I think Tigra does more, more
Speaker:than any politician could ever do
Speaker:for our community just by being
Speaker:being her and having the heart that
Speaker:she does and knowing to ask
Speaker:the right questions.
Speaker:I'm thinking back to
Speaker:your answer. And then in Tigra's
Speaker:kind of suss of you
Speaker:as a NDP candidate, there wasn't
Speaker:actually this beacon of hope, right?
Speaker:It was like, oh, she must be cool.
Speaker:She's NDP, right?
Speaker:She's progressive. It was like,
Speaker:all right, you seem a little
Speaker:establishment,
Speaker:but I feel that is
Speaker:the case now. You know, I'm I'm also
Speaker:a former candidate, but now I look
Speaker:at candidates with a little
Speaker:bit of,
Speaker:you know, because of
Speaker:these ideas that you're talking
Speaker:does that that are shooting out.
Speaker:You're not talking about leftist
Speaker:ideas. We don't really see them kind
Speaker:of exploding
Speaker:in the way that we need them.
Speaker:I am assuming you're talking about
Speaker:the rise of the right and
Speaker:in this polarization, because we've
Speaker:not really seen.
Speaker:Well, we have the good people like
Speaker:T Grizzly aren't really all that
Speaker:involved with electoral politics.
Speaker:A lot of people aren't.
Speaker:Right. The most marginalized are not
Speaker:because it doesn't speak to them.
Speaker:Right. The communities that you're
Speaker:helping probably
Speaker:don't vote all that much.
Speaker:Right. And so when we we continue
Speaker:to talk at voters, we're missing
Speaker:this huge picture
Speaker:that you're engaging with mutual aid
Speaker:and all of these other activities.
Speaker:So like secretly like in the work
Speaker:that you do, we know how you make
Speaker:immediate impacts on your community
Speaker:members, right?
Speaker:By listening to them and creating
Speaker:spaces and food.
Speaker:Right. That is so obvious.
Speaker:A need and and housing.
Speaker:But how do we.
Speaker:How does your work help the broader
Speaker:picture?
Speaker:Are we changing the messaging?
Speaker:Are you pressuring politicians?
Speaker:What else does that work do?
Speaker:I really think it's just leading
Speaker:by example.
Speaker:Over the past year,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:leftists like socialists,
Speaker:communists, they're all
Speaker:kind of like buzzwords now.
Speaker:And to be
Speaker:honest, like, I don't subscribe to
Speaker:any of it.
Speaker:I do not subscribe to being
Speaker:a leftist or a centrist
Speaker:right wing, because I
Speaker:don't have faith in our governments
Speaker:and I don't even understand
Speaker:what that means.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like and I see this
Speaker:all the time because I truly
Speaker:like to see someone,
Speaker:to see a community member out
Speaker:there. And you're not.
Speaker:Trying to provide some
Speaker:support or you know, that there is
Speaker:an issue within the community,
Speaker:but you're criminalizing
Speaker:it doesn't make sense
Speaker:to me.
Speaker:I honestly cannot understand
Speaker:it.
Speaker:So it's just like the ideologies
Speaker:on both sides I don't subscribe to.
Speaker:And like I said, like really just
Speaker:try to to lead
Speaker:by example.
Speaker:You know, when
Speaker:social media is a great tool,
Speaker:I do think that it
Speaker:has it's good and its bad to
Speaker:it.
Speaker:But we do.
Speaker:We put pictures out and we put posts
Speaker:and we'll put them in the community
Speaker:groups for accountability.
Speaker:One, because we do get a lot of
Speaker:donations, monetary
Speaker:and item donations from the
Speaker:community. So one
Speaker:for accountability.
Speaker:But two, you know,
Speaker:we did start this from the ground
Speaker:up. It took a lot of work, but it
Speaker:was doable.
Speaker:So if we can do it, somebody
Speaker:else can do it as well.
Speaker:Our mayor here in Boyd,
Speaker:we think
Speaker:we have some sort of an
Speaker:understanding.
Speaker:And we but we have
Speaker:we've gone and protested outside of
Speaker:outside of the RCMP building,
Speaker:outside of City Hall many times.
Speaker:We've had I've had personally had
Speaker:many conversations with our
Speaker:with our mayor.
Speaker:We've written letters, you know,
Speaker:we've put pressure on the
Speaker:governments.
Speaker:But any results?
Speaker:Is there is no results for
Speaker:like we when we had the Wet'suwet'en
Speaker:protests, we stood in solidarity
Speaker:with Wet'suwet'en and
Speaker:we wrote a letter to
Speaker:our MLA.
Speaker:Garth
Speaker:and the response
Speaker:we got. I wish I could find it
Speaker:because I would send it to you.
Speaker:It's probably in another email, but
Speaker:it was awful.
Speaker:It was heinous.
Speaker:It was just like, well, you know,
Speaker:pretty much they got
Speaker:they're getting what they deserve.
Speaker:And the chiefs
Speaker:already agreed to it.
Speaker:So what they're doing is futile.
Speaker:And he's also.
Speaker:He's a climate change denialist
Speaker:completely. He does not believe in
Speaker:climate change.
Speaker:He does not believe that there is a
Speaker:climate emergency
Speaker:yet. And yeah.
Speaker:It's a hoax, too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well.
Speaker:Anything scientific, I assume,
Speaker:is a hoax to.
Speaker:To the governments and EU
Speaker:governments.
Speaker:Right. You're trying to tell me.
Speaker:They're just straight up Christ
Speaker:fascists, to be honest.
Speaker:Yeah, the the
Speaker:I like I love Christianity.
Speaker:I am a self self-described
Speaker:Christian, but man,
Speaker:the last couple of years,
Speaker:Christianity been whack.
Speaker:Christianity gotten super whack.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I think they have a history.
Speaker:They do.
Speaker:You know.
Speaker:But I love I'm not going to thing
Speaker:like I know lots about Christianity
Speaker:as a whole thing.
Speaker:I'm a strong believer that
Speaker:Christianity peaked when it was a
Speaker:sect of Judaism.
Speaker:It should never have separated from
Speaker:that.
Speaker:That's when it was peaking.
Speaker:But where we're here now,
Speaker:unfortunately.
Speaker:It's hot too.
Speaker:We'll have to do a whole new
Speaker:episode.
Speaker:On if you want to get a hot takes on
Speaker:Christianity.
Speaker:Like, I was an evangelical Christian
Speaker:for like ten years.
Speaker:I got hot takes.
Speaker:I got hot takes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:We also I
Speaker:also grew up in the church is well,
Speaker:Pentecostal and
Speaker:it's part Pentecostal,
Speaker:whole part cult.
Speaker:So there's
Speaker:the the the yeah, we could,
Speaker:we could do a whole other podcast.
Speaker:I was going to say no, just the two
Speaker:of you on again.
Speaker:Yeah. Well we'll go through all the
Speaker:cults that are employed because
Speaker:there's at least five.
Speaker:Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker:There's a lot.
Speaker:And some say there's a leadership
Speaker:cult, right?
Speaker:There's cults everywhere.
Speaker:Yeah, let's not judge.
Speaker:Let's go back to the work that
Speaker:you're doing again.
Speaker:We'll circle back
Speaker:what, you know, kind of
Speaker:is the biggest barrier
Speaker:I know. Like you've talked about
Speaker:maybe spinning your wheels with
Speaker:politicians in it, going nowhere.
Speaker:Let's imagine we just like just
Speaker:forget about those folks
Speaker:other than those who are
Speaker:useless representation.
Speaker:What's your biggest barrier as an
Speaker:activist?
Speaker:Is that external?
Speaker:Maybe it's internal.
Speaker:Oh, that's a really good question.
Speaker:My biggest barrier right now
Speaker:is finding
Speaker:appropriate social
Speaker:services to direct
Speaker:people.
Speaker:Like one of our
Speaker:missions and like part
Speaker:of our mission. And the vision is to
Speaker:be a conduit.
Speaker:So people
Speaker:will come to us, we listen
Speaker:to them, and then we
Speaker:direct them in different areas
Speaker:of us,
Speaker:like special specialist
Speaker:special areas, specialty areas,
Speaker:specialty people, whether that's,
Speaker:you know, income support,
Speaker:some social services, education
Speaker:therapy, addiction
Speaker:services.
Speaker:But when we talk about
Speaker:decolonization and we talk about
Speaker:defunding and, you know.
Speaker:And uplifting other social
Speaker:areas.
Speaker:Those areas all need to be
Speaker:decolonized as well.
Speaker:So child social services
Speaker:100% needs to be decolonized.
Speaker:Education 100% needs
Speaker:to be decolonized.
Speaker:But instead of putting the work into
Speaker:these areas when
Speaker:the government needs money,
Speaker:they fund all of those
Speaker:areas.
Speaker:They don't put any work into them.
Speaker:And somehow all of this money
Speaker:goes to the RCMP.
Speaker:That is the that's
Speaker:the number one area right now
Speaker:that I'm having difficulty with
Speaker:is finding
Speaker:safe spaces because you
Speaker:don't want to perpetuate
Speaker:harm. You don't want to tell them
Speaker:to, you know.
Speaker:Okay, will you
Speaker:visit the service?
Speaker:More often than not, that's the only
Speaker:option that we have.
Speaker:So that's what we have to do
Speaker:in order to get them some sort of
Speaker:support. Because I can't 100%
Speaker:say that all of the support
Speaker:that they'll get in that area is
Speaker:negative.
Speaker:So any positivity
Speaker:that would come out of that is
Speaker:beneficial because we don't have any
Speaker:other options.
Speaker:So that in itself, that in itself
Speaker:is the biggest barrier that we're
Speaker:seeing right now.
Speaker:Kind of reminds me of, you know,
Speaker:when you know someone is in crisis
Speaker:and you know, you don't want
Speaker:the police, but you
Speaker:don't know who else to call.
Speaker:So it's not a matter of, you know,
Speaker:you don't you know, you just don't
Speaker:know what services available is.
Speaker:You know, that some of those
Speaker:services will actually do
Speaker:more harm.
Speaker:That is not only that is the only
Speaker:thing we can do here in Lloyd is
Speaker:call RCMP when you have any
Speaker:sort of crisis at all.
Speaker:The only thing you can do is call
Speaker:the RCMP.
Speaker:And it
Speaker:it is a it's a it's a hard
Speaker:decision. You don't know if
Speaker:you are going to call them.
Speaker:And then more
Speaker:often than not, they are judged
Speaker:immediately upon arrival before
Speaker:that person
Speaker:is in social crisis or
Speaker:is in some sort of crisis,
Speaker:is in needing mental health support.
Speaker:You know, they're a drunk indigenous
Speaker:person.
Speaker:That is first and foremost what is
Speaker:seen.
Speaker:So
Speaker:you don't know if they are
Speaker:going to be victims of police
Speaker:brutality.
Speaker:You don't know if they're going to
Speaker:be taken seriously.
Speaker:You don't know if they're actually
Speaker:in they need life
Speaker:saving help, but they're going to go
Speaker:to the hospital and not receive that
Speaker:and which has happened quite a few
Speaker:times here and in other
Speaker:surrounding areas where people have
Speaker:gone multiple times to the hospital
Speaker:there. One person ended up taking
Speaker:his own life in a hospital, in a
Speaker:bathroom, because he had gone
Speaker:multiple times and was not
Speaker:supported.
Speaker:There are multiple, multiple
Speaker:stories. I have heard so
Speaker:many stories out of the hospital
Speaker:here of people and of racism.
Speaker:Yeah, I'll just interject.
Speaker:Even my own experience.
Speaker:I'm not me personally, but
Speaker:my brother was in crisis in
Speaker:the hospital here in Lloyd, and
Speaker:like he said, he's an indigenous
Speaker:man. He looks quite indigenous
Speaker:compared to me.
Speaker:And he's a big guy.
Speaker:He's built like a refrigerator.
Speaker:He was in a mental health crisis and
Speaker:the nurse called the cops on him
Speaker:because he was sitting behind
Speaker:a toilet crying because he didn't
Speaker:want her to take his temperature.
Speaker:And she said, Oh, he's going to hurt
Speaker:me. He's going to kill me.
Speaker:And called to police officers who
Speaker:showed up with guns and tasers.
Speaker:And like my my brother was like
Speaker:17 years old and he's terrified
Speaker:out of his mind.
Speaker:And the only thing that they saw
Speaker:was a big, scary native guy who is
Speaker:uncontrollable to them.
Speaker:And they just the first thing they
Speaker:did was call the police.
Speaker:And it's just that's how it is here.
Speaker:And it's it's really frustrating
Speaker:because it's it's literally
Speaker:inescapable.
Speaker:And there's something similar.
Speaker:Well, not similar.
Speaker:But I've also had my own experience
Speaker:there after I had
Speaker:my youngest daughter,
Speaker:she like newborn
Speaker:babies. They kind of get like a
Speaker:newborn rash sometimes.
Speaker:Some are worse than others.
Speaker:And she had quite a substantial
Speaker:newborn rash and her
Speaker:startle reflex, like she got
Speaker:startled very easily.
Speaker:And I
Speaker:it, I noticed it.
Speaker:So I, I asked the nurse about,
Speaker:I was like, hey, what's up?
Speaker:Like, what's going on with this?
Speaker:And.
Speaker:The pediatrician literally asked me
Speaker:if I was doing drugs, and they
Speaker:asked me multiple times, are
Speaker:you do you do drugs?
Speaker:Are you doing drugs? Are you sure
Speaker:you didn't do any drugs?
Speaker:Like, this is my third baby.
Speaker:I'm sure I did not do any drugs.
Speaker:If I was concerned about that, I
Speaker:would I would have relayed that to
Speaker:you.
Speaker:And because of the rash, I got asked
Speaker:if I had herpes
Speaker:and, you know, as a new
Speaker:not a new mom, but I mean, I just
Speaker:gave birth and those
Speaker:and and being
Speaker:COVID tested right after
Speaker:you give birth plus all of those
Speaker:questions on top of it, not
Speaker:being able to have the support that
Speaker:I would have had with my other
Speaker:two children as well.
Speaker:Like I was alone, my
Speaker:husband, I had two other kids at
Speaker:home and
Speaker:because they he couldn't go, he
Speaker:couldn't leave and come back.
Speaker:I opted to stay by myself
Speaker:because I didn't have any other
Speaker:choice. So.
Speaker:It was. And that's that's just like
Speaker:our stories out of.
Speaker:I've heard so many so many
Speaker:so many stories out of this
Speaker:hospital.
Speaker:I can't remember what the question
Speaker:was. Sorry. That was kind of a
Speaker:really random tangent.
Speaker:Let me let me come back with another
Speaker:question then, kind of based on what
Speaker:you said, because one of the
Speaker:struggles that I face in my
Speaker:progressive circles
Speaker:when we try to talk about defunding
Speaker:the RCMP, you know, there was a
Speaker:resolution and, you know, I brought
Speaker:it to my riding association
Speaker:and.
Speaker:Socialists, progressives
Speaker:from anti-black
Speaker:racist advocates and
Speaker:a lot of resistance to defunding the
Speaker:RCMP. And one of the major
Speaker:sticking points
Speaker:that I obviously couldn't speak from
Speaker:experience, but you too can
Speaker:was you know, we've got a lot of
Speaker:these rural towns,
Speaker:cities that only
Speaker:have the RCMP
Speaker:and what would they do?
Speaker:Should there not be?
Speaker:Obviously, it's a gradual defunding
Speaker:and a building up of community
Speaker:services.
Speaker:You know, it's not.
Speaker:But that was the resistance
Speaker:that it faced, that that it was
Speaker:towns like yours that absolutely
Speaker:needed the RCMP
Speaker:to solve all of your problems.
Speaker:So what would you say to those
Speaker:folks that just can't see
Speaker:another way for towns like Lloyd
Speaker:does?
Speaker:You should answer this one.
Speaker:I know you have a phenomenal
Speaker:response to that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, it's actually interesting
Speaker:because Tigra and I had had this
Speaker:conversation a little
Speaker:while ago, too, where we talked
Speaker:about the fact that Lloyd needs
Speaker:to have the RCMP for crisis
Speaker:response.
Speaker:And it's because we genuinely have
Speaker:no other services.
Speaker:And as you go throughout Alberta,
Speaker:especially rural northern Alberta,
Speaker:it's the same thing where, you know,
Speaker:some places they don't even have
Speaker:like an actual RCMP detachment.
Speaker:They have like a building that
Speaker:officers from a different community
Speaker:show up at in the morning.
Speaker:And they go they go there and they
Speaker:work there for the day because
Speaker:there's there's no you know, there's
Speaker:no municipality funds or anything.
Speaker:So they just have a tiny little
Speaker:building that they operate out of.
Speaker:And it is it's a huge problem.
Speaker:But it was made to be like that.
Speaker:This system was set up to
Speaker:be like this so that they're the
Speaker:only things that we have access to.
Speaker:You know, that comes from
Speaker:colonization, that comes
Speaker:from how this country fundamentally
Speaker:was set up and how systemically
Speaker:they needed to, you know,
Speaker:control the.
Speaker:Natives.
Speaker:And all of this bullcrap
Speaker:that we know that the RCMP is was
Speaker:funded on and created on.
Speaker:From what I have learned,
Speaker:I like it is that gradual
Speaker:change, that that
Speaker:gradual bringing over of community
Speaker:services I think in a lot of
Speaker:communities out rural,
Speaker:especially in Alberta.
Speaker:I could see something where if
Speaker:Lloydminster, for example, was set
Speaker:up with a community response,
Speaker:we would have to take the onus at
Speaker:first and extend that
Speaker:out. Right.
Speaker:Like Lloydminster having a community
Speaker:based response.
Speaker:We would extend that to places like
Speaker:KITT Scotti, which is only like 15
Speaker:minutes outside of Lloyd or Mar
Speaker:Wayne, which is about 30 minutes or
Speaker:familiar or whatever areas.
Speaker:I think that it would be
Speaker:really difficult, honestly,
Speaker:to to make that change and I think
Speaker:it would be an effort
Speaker:that would have to come from the
Speaker:entire community being ready to make
Speaker:that change.
Speaker:And honestly, I don't think it would
Speaker:even be successful unless we were
Speaker:able to meaningfully
Speaker:address the problems that
Speaker:cause the RCMP
Speaker:to be needed.
Speaker:So things like we have safe drug
Speaker:supply for people who need to access
Speaker:it and we have a place where they
Speaker:can go to use those drugs safely
Speaker:and have medical response.
Speaker:You know, we do things like
Speaker:providing housing for everybody
Speaker:in that community so that people
Speaker:don't have to, you know,
Speaker:sleep in alleys and have the cops
Speaker:called on them or break into a place
Speaker:and have the cops called on them.
Speaker:It's unfortunate that, like in order
Speaker:to really start the process of
Speaker:fixing these things, that
Speaker:we have to
Speaker:start by fixing the problems to make
Speaker:it so that we don't even need the
Speaker:police in the first place.
Speaker:But that's that's kind of the
Speaker:beautiful thing that like a
Speaker:group like Elvie can do,
Speaker:especially as it gets larger, like
Speaker:creating that space to be like,
Speaker:Hey, don't call them, call us.
Speaker:I think would be really
Speaker:like the best way to start that is
Speaker:having those groups of people where
Speaker:somebody is trained to
Speaker:respond to any kind of mental health
Speaker:situations. I know here in Lloyd
Speaker:they do provide mental health
Speaker:training.
Speaker:I don't know how much it costs.
Speaker:I'm going to actually look into it
Speaker:later, though, but I know you can
Speaker:get the $200.
Speaker:$200 that's two
Speaker:or to 50.
Speaker:Gross capitalism.
Speaker:Songs
Speaker:to us, which I thought was really
Speaker:awesome. But then I kept thinking
Speaker:like, the unhoused should have
Speaker:this knowledge, they should have
Speaker:this training so they can support
Speaker:themselves.
Speaker:But for two, I can't even afford
Speaker:that.
Speaker:No, that's ridiculous.
Speaker:That's. Well, you know, I'm going to
Speaker:I'm going to get the course.
Speaker:I'm going to learn it. Then I'll teach
Speaker:it to everybody for free.
Speaker:That's what we'll do.
Speaker:Well, Pirate Bay.
Speaker:Pirate Bay. Crash course.
Speaker:Yeah, like.
Speaker:Like that's what you have to do is
Speaker:create those community systems and
Speaker:have that that number that,
Speaker:you know, to call that person or
Speaker:this group, and they're going to
Speaker:come and have the people who are
Speaker:reliable for it.
Speaker:So yeah, I think that's where we
Speaker:need to start looking.
Speaker:It's the reality
Speaker:is I think that we need to
Speaker:consider over the next eight years
Speaker:as we're looking
Speaker:to a future where we're going to
Speaker:have more polarized politics,
Speaker:especially on the far right as we
Speaker:see people of year,
Speaker:whatever his name is, poutine,
Speaker:getting all his like these big
Speaker:rallies and MAGA types,
Speaker:things like we're going to see more
Speaker:of this, we're going to see more
Speaker:climate disasters, we're going to
Speaker:see more people being unhoused and
Speaker:more people living and falling into
Speaker:that poverty line.
Speaker:We're just going to have to pick up
Speaker:the responsibility together and,
Speaker:you know, arm in arm, say, no,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:This isn't acceptable.
Speaker:None of us have to live like this.
Speaker:None of us have to have to
Speaker:adhere to these ideas that society's
Speaker:telling us that we need to live by.
Speaker:We're eventually
Speaker:going to as individuals and
Speaker:as a community and as community
Speaker:groups, we're just going to start
Speaker:have to taking that responsibility
Speaker:and just ask
Speaker:for forgiveness later.
Speaker:You know, we know this person
Speaker:needs to get house today.
Speaker:We're going to find them a house
Speaker:today. We'll ask for forgiveness
Speaker:later. That's what we're going to
Speaker:eventually be falling into, I think.
Speaker:And I think that we should be.
Speaker:Open and willing and ready to have
Speaker:the conversations on what that looks
Speaker:like and how we build up to that
Speaker:point.
Speaker:Because if we don't have those
Speaker:conversations now, by the time that
Speaker:we need to have those systems in
Speaker:place, it's going to be way more
Speaker:difficult than any of us would like.
Speaker:And I think a lot of people will
Speaker:fall through the cracks.
Speaker:Like, I'm hopeful that this model
Speaker:that you have is
Speaker:can act as an example, like you
Speaker:said, like leading by example for
Speaker:others to follow. And if you can
Speaker:demonstrate a different way of
Speaker:operating community, which is
Speaker:really municipal, right?
Speaker:Ideally, you folks shouldn't have
Speaker:to do this right?
Speaker:This is what you pay your taxes for
Speaker:so that we can take care of each
Speaker:other and not corporations.
Speaker:Right. So I'm going to challenge
Speaker:you a little bit here in the same
Speaker:way folks challenge food banks.
Speaker:If we take that onus on ourselves,
Speaker:the entire onus of feeding our
Speaker:community members, have we not left
Speaker:a lot of people off the hook
Speaker:and.
Speaker:Not that that's your work.
Speaker:Like, we got to feed people.
Speaker:We have to house people right now,
Speaker:right? We can't wait for, like,
Speaker:transformative politics to happen.
Speaker:But how do we start to make that
Speaker:shift where it's understood that
Speaker:that should it be dess
Speaker:responsibility.
Speaker:It should not be grizzlies and
Speaker:her friends responsibilities to feed
Speaker:the community of Lloyd
Speaker:Wright like.
Speaker:You do have a mayor, you do pay
Speaker:taxes. There is a provincial
Speaker:government. There is a federal
Speaker:government with certain
Speaker:responsibilities.
Speaker:I know we don't trust them, but it
Speaker:is still their job.
Speaker:So we I worry that if we structure
Speaker:ourselves like this, where the onus
Speaker:is put on people who are already
Speaker:struggling and
Speaker:burning out as we do
Speaker:that, that is not sustainable.
Speaker:Our government's not sustainable.
Speaker:It isn't. Our government is not
Speaker:sustainable, though.
Speaker:And the thing is,
Speaker:especially when you have a nonprofit
Speaker:and you are doing mutual aid, you
Speaker:have to be super mindful
Speaker:not to fall into
Speaker:the nonprofit
Speaker:industrial complex
Speaker:and you have to be mindful
Speaker:about.
Speaker:Not falling into
Speaker:this.
Speaker:White centered charity
Speaker:idea
Speaker:where you are going to come
Speaker:in and save everybody.
Speaker:We're not saving people.
Speaker:We are supporting our community.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:We are showing other
Speaker:community members that
Speaker:they are also capable
Speaker:of supporting as well,
Speaker:especially when it comes to food
Speaker:and doesn't.
Speaker:I have plans we have plans
Speaker:for.
Speaker:This.
Speaker:Summer and yeah,
Speaker:it's just we're I'm super excited
Speaker:because.
Speaker:We are going to be growing
Speaker:food.
Speaker:We're going to be growing food.
Speaker:And the way that I see it, my
Speaker:vision, my vision
Speaker:is for everyone.
Speaker:When we address the unhoused
Speaker:and the vulnerable community
Speaker:members, when they are taken care
Speaker:of, everyone's taken care
Speaker:of. When we can start there
Speaker:and we know that they are taking
Speaker:care of the entire community
Speaker:is taking care of my plan
Speaker:and my vision is
Speaker:for anyone
Speaker:who is gardening, anyone who has
Speaker:luscious gardens.
Speaker:Anyone who wants to
Speaker:is new into gardening.
Speaker:We can grow these luscious gardens
Speaker:and trade and have a market
Speaker:like a farmer's market, but just
Speaker:like seriously straight across
Speaker:trading vegetables.
Speaker:Right. I know.
Speaker:I'm so excited for it.
Speaker:And, you know, like, if you want
Speaker:to, you know, come in, you have
Speaker:like you want to make a couple
Speaker:bucks. Cool.
Speaker:If you have some stuff you want to
Speaker:trade for.
Speaker:At the end of the season,
Speaker:we can do seed trading.
Speaker:So excited
Speaker:we could do seed trading.
Speaker:We can do we can and but we can
Speaker:also get that
Speaker:education out there as well.
Speaker:Like this, like we
Speaker:can do gardening
Speaker:workshops and like and when I say
Speaker:this, it is with the
Speaker:unhoused community in the forefront.
Speaker:They already know what's
Speaker:being planned.
Speaker:They helped plant seeds
Speaker:to start seeds.
Speaker:Does. When was that?
Speaker:Last weekend or the weekend before?
Speaker:That was last weekend because I had
Speaker:the boys.
Speaker:Yes. And so they they helped.
Speaker:They helped plant seeds.
Speaker:They are going to show me.
Speaker:It's kind of.
Speaker:Do and ask permission later.
Speaker:You know, I'm not asking.
Speaker:I believe we call it guerrilla
Speaker:gardening.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Or we've called the Operation
Speaker:Entry Fire or
Speaker:plant fire.
Speaker:Oh, my planting
Speaker:plan. TFA is a T-shirt waiting
Speaker:to happen.
Speaker:It's already a T-shirt.
Speaker:It's already a T-shirt.
Speaker:Oh, yeah.
Speaker:I will buy one.
Speaker:I'll have to send it to you.
Speaker:But it's that. The thing is, these
Speaker:these these terms are not they're
Speaker:not co-opted.
Speaker:Anyone can use them.
Speaker:And they're any.
Speaker:You want to stick it on a T-shirt,
Speaker:go and can buy make your own little
Speaker:plentiful logo.
Speaker:Go right ahead.
Speaker:But yeah, I do
Speaker:now ask permission later.
Speaker:And you know what? When it explodes,
Speaker:which I envision it exploding
Speaker:and, you know, other community
Speaker:members can really see
Speaker:that it's possible.
Speaker:I think that we will
Speaker:truly be leading by example.
Speaker:Well, it's it will be
Speaker:it's genuine.
Speaker:It's not forced.
Speaker:It's not like, you know,
Speaker:like.
Speaker:Like Joel
Speaker:was witnesses where you have to go
Speaker:door to door and you're like, Please
Speaker:believe in this.
Speaker:Like, No, watch.
Speaker:We'll do it.
Speaker:You know, if it resonates with you,
Speaker:you do it to to it's not
Speaker:going to harm anyone.
Speaker:Maybe cross-pollination, but
Speaker:me. I still figure that
Speaker:part out. But it
Speaker:is.
Speaker:It's it's putting that education
Speaker:out there that we can be
Speaker:self-sufficient as a community if we
Speaker:want to. If we put that if we truly
Speaker:put the work in, we can do it
Speaker:and be self-sufficient as a
Speaker:community.
Speaker:But the education that is such
Speaker:a big part, whether it be
Speaker:food scarcity,
Speaker:food insecurity, housing
Speaker:harm reduction, safe consumption
Speaker:police, abolishing
Speaker:the police.
Speaker:It all comes down to education
Speaker:and putting the stats
Speaker:out there,
Speaker:like the correlation,
Speaker:the cause and effect.
Speaker:Even if we start working
Speaker:here at the bottom down with
Speaker:the basics, this is how
Speaker:it will affect up here.
Speaker:And some
Speaker:people are very are very
Speaker:analytically minded.
Speaker:They you know, you have to put
Speaker:statistics and percentages and
Speaker:numbers out there for them to
Speaker:understand, you know, like
Speaker:if we had sustainable
Speaker:housing for everyone
Speaker:in the long run, this actually saves
Speaker:us money.
Speaker:In the long run, we end up building
Speaker:our community better.
Speaker:We have a stronger community, a
Speaker:better relationship, you know,
Speaker:and I've thought
Speaker:of various ways
Speaker:of how we can do this, but
Speaker:just new and innovative
Speaker:ways, whether that's, you know.
Speaker:I don't know about you, but when I
Speaker:see random QR codes, hopefully I
Speaker:don't get a virus.
Speaker:When they're my phone.
Speaker:When I see random QR codes, I always
Speaker:scan it. Always so.
Speaker:Right. So like part
Speaker:like that.
Speaker:That was one idea, like putting
Speaker:together stats
Speaker:and then putting up QR codes
Speaker:all around the city, you know,
Speaker:or, you know,
Speaker:making different brochures or
Speaker:having different rallies,
Speaker:community discussions,
Speaker:but really
Speaker:education
Speaker:based.
Speaker:I don't know how to word it
Speaker:properly, but also
Speaker:with also with
Speaker:the community members in
Speaker:the forefront, with those
Speaker:marginalized people that have been
Speaker:silenced in the forefront, we are
Speaker:amplifying them.
Speaker:They know what they need
Speaker:and we are just there to
Speaker:push them and get them into spaces
Speaker:that they otherwise wouldn't be able
Speaker:to get into.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think the
Speaker:really important thing about that
Speaker:vision that you have of
Speaker:how our community should and
Speaker:can and will operate, and
Speaker:I'm going to manifest that right
Speaker:now. It will operate like this
Speaker:is I don't think it will take
Speaker:the onus away from the people who
Speaker:have let us down.
Speaker:I think honestly, when our
Speaker:community sees how
Speaker:easy it was to make
Speaker:those little changes, it's going
Speaker:to be like, Oh,
Speaker:are you kidding?
Speaker:They could have done this before.
Speaker:We could have we've could have had
Speaker:this for years. You know, like we
Speaker:have a garden of community garden
Speaker:here in Loyd. The waitlist is like
Speaker:almost two, three years,
Speaker:and it's expensive to get a garden
Speaker:plot. And if you don't have a
Speaker:backyard, if you don't have a
Speaker:backyard garden, there's nowhere
Speaker:else you can go to, to, you
Speaker:know, do this.
Speaker:And people are like,
Speaker:it's ah, like if you're living
Speaker:downtown like that walk is probably
Speaker:about 45 minutes.
Speaker:Oh I'd say even more than that.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's very much
Speaker:an inaccessible thing.
Speaker:And so, you know, it's just easy if
Speaker:we throw up some some guerilla
Speaker:gardens, some plan trivia
Speaker:all of a sudden, Oh, hey, you don't
Speaker:have to worry about this waiting
Speaker:list. Now you've got fresh lettuce
Speaker:in your front yard.
Speaker:It's on. You know, we have so many
Speaker:grassy medians across town that
Speaker:have nothing on them except for
Speaker:litter because people just throw
Speaker:stuff around because it's not
Speaker:pretty. Well, let's make it pretty.
Speaker:Well, you're not going to wreck it
Speaker:now because it's beautiful, right?
Speaker:And I think that's that it'll just
Speaker:be a time of as we're
Speaker:working through it, educating people
Speaker:and even just making people angry
Speaker:ourselves, you know, handing
Speaker:out sandwiches and being like, isn't
Speaker:it ridiculous that, you know,
Speaker:Shannon Stubbs is our MP
Speaker:and she didn't show up here and
Speaker:she's not handing out sandwiches,
Speaker:super weird rosemary folk.
Speaker:She's not here handing out any water
Speaker:to unhoused people.
Speaker:What do they do and why are we
Speaker:paying them $200,000.
Speaker:A year once?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah. You know, eurofins.
Speaker:Oh, this is on all of us,
Speaker:though. The onus is on
Speaker:all of us as as
Speaker:as members of this community
Speaker:to support to support our community.
Speaker:To support our community members and
Speaker:not.
Speaker:You know, rely on
Speaker:structures and systems that we know
Speaker:don't work, that are not something
Speaker:they are built off profit.
Speaker:They're they're built on systemic
Speaker:racism.
Speaker:And they just they have proven time
Speaker:and time again that we don't that it
Speaker:doesn't work so
Speaker:well.
Speaker:I appreciate the work that you
Speaker:guys are doing to kind of disrupt
Speaker:and decolonize.
Speaker:We're kind of near the end of our
Speaker:time here.
Speaker:But I also I'm listening
Speaker:to you and I just keep thinking,
Speaker:you folks need a commune
Speaker:in Loyd, right?
Speaker:If I had a magic
Speaker:wand, I know.
Speaker:Like, you know, I'll fix all the
Speaker:problems of the world, yadda, yadda.
Speaker:But if I could do one little thing
Speaker:for you would be to give you a
Speaker:plot of space, a plot
Speaker:of land in your community with
Speaker:that structure.
Speaker:And I can only imagine
Speaker:what you would do.
Speaker:And it may sound really silly, but
Speaker:I'm rewatching The Walking Dead.
Speaker:That's how I relax.
Speaker:They'll judge so
Speaker:and they get to start a new right
Speaker:and each one has its own style.
Speaker:And, and, and
Speaker:you do get to start again.
Speaker:And in this horrific
Speaker:post-apocalyptic,
Speaker:you know, we had the banks
Speaker:capitalism zombie land.
Speaker:But, you know, that's how I envision
Speaker:your work, right?
Speaker:That's it. That is honestly what we
Speaker:want to do. Like Alvey is a part
Speaker:of another it's part
Speaker:of another, quote, coalition,
Speaker:kind of called Turtle Island
Speaker:Mutual Aid Collective.
Speaker:And it's a group of
Speaker:so there is L-O-V-E,
Speaker:a fight for equity,
Speaker:Water Warriors, NYC
Speaker:and Street Cats,
Speaker:I believe.
Speaker:So we're all under one mutual aid
Speaker:collective and our goal
Speaker:is to win the lottery,
Speaker:collect enough monetary donations
Speaker:from either like grant
Speaker:funding or community members,
Speaker:and build
Speaker:a self sufficient
Speaker:structure where
Speaker:we can have an outdoor
Speaker:garden, we can have an indoor
Speaker:garden, hydroponics aquaponics,
Speaker:but also like
Speaker:and this is I don't know what,
Speaker:what type of year like
Speaker:ten year, five year, hopefully like
Speaker:five year, but we'll say time.
Speaker:Your goal of
Speaker:an all encompassing
Speaker:space where
Speaker:we can have our drop in center, we
Speaker:can have our
Speaker:our shelters like emergency shelters
Speaker:for men,
Speaker:men and women.
Speaker:But then also like the wet shelter
Speaker:part of it too.
Speaker:Everyone needs support no matter
Speaker:where, at what point they
Speaker:are. And a lot of
Speaker:the barriers that I have heard are
Speaker:and have personally experienced.
Speaker:If you are under the influence
Speaker:of anything, you cannot get into a
Speaker:shelter.
Speaker:So just to clarify for listeners,
Speaker:like a wet shelter is one that does
Speaker:not have restrictions on
Speaker:those experiencing addiction.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:And, you know, getting
Speaker:clean and sober on the streets is
Speaker:almost impossible.
Speaker:Like I have all
Speaker:you know, there are there are people
Speaker:that do it. And I'm like, how
Speaker:I had to move
Speaker:hours away from my old
Speaker:stomping grounds to get clean and
Speaker:sober and I still relapsed here.
Speaker:So for you to be in the same small
Speaker:rural community on
Speaker:the streets, getting clean and
Speaker:sober, like we should stop doing
Speaker:that. Yes. Good for you.
Speaker:But we do need we do need a
Speaker:structure that does support
Speaker:like like a wet shelter,
Speaker:a shelter where women and
Speaker:children can come regardless if
Speaker:they're fleeing domestic violence or
Speaker:not. Because, believe it or not, out
Speaker:here in Lloyd, we do not have that.
Speaker:We have one women's shelter
Speaker:and you have to be fleeing domestic
Speaker:violence. Other than that, you have
Speaker:nowhere to go here.
Speaker:So that will also
Speaker:be a part of that.
Speaker:I know Tyler from Residence in
Speaker:Recovery. She has an awesome program
Speaker:for mothers and children.
Speaker:So instead of your children being
Speaker:taken away from you when you
Speaker:are receiving recovery support,
Speaker:you can now go into
Speaker:sober living with your children.
Speaker:And like as
Speaker:a mom who had
Speaker:to get clean and sober without
Speaker:her, her children.
Speaker:And that is so
Speaker:hard. The amount of shame you feel
Speaker:as a mother having your kids taken
Speaker:away from you.
Speaker:It doesn't make it easier, makes it
Speaker:worse.
Speaker:I truly believe that
Speaker:I went way farther down than
Speaker:I would have because
Speaker:I didn't have my child
Speaker:with me. She was taken away from me.
Speaker:So it is a sense of shame.
Speaker:So another part of that all
Speaker:encompassing structure is to have
Speaker:women and children in there, to
Speaker:be to get clean and sober
Speaker:and just like, you know,
Speaker:cultural sensitivity,
Speaker:mental health training,
Speaker:just everything, everything under
Speaker:one umbrella.
Speaker:And it sounds it sounds
Speaker:extravagant and grand, but I really
Speaker:do feel like
Speaker:it could it could come into
Speaker:fruition for sure.
Speaker:How sad for us to have to reflect
Speaker:on that and think it sounds
Speaker:extravagant and it does by today's
Speaker:standards. But is
Speaker:it right or is that what we deserve?
Speaker:Like super kudos to you.
Speaker:Like you talk about your struggles
Speaker:and I've gone
Speaker:door to door to and I've heard
Speaker:people who've had struggles.
Speaker:And you can go one of two ways,
Speaker:right? We see people that was like,
Speaker:if I struggled, everyone should
Speaker:struggle. What's the big deal?
Speaker:I'm here, you know.
Speaker:But you know.
Speaker:No, you.
Speaker:You said no one after me, you know
Speaker:what I mean? I cannot sit idly
Speaker:by while my community members
Speaker:struggle.
Speaker:So I know that you can't
Speaker:understand anyone operating
Speaker:any other way.
Speaker:Thank goodness for that.
Speaker:But there are so I,
Speaker:I get so excited when we find
Speaker:people like you doing this work,
Speaker:especially in difficult
Speaker:circumstances, coming out of certain
Speaker:living in difficult circumstances
Speaker:like so many of us are.
Speaker:I mean, it's just surviving
Speaker:sometimes in this atmosphere
Speaker:is something to look up to.
Speaker:But you you both have done so much
Speaker:more than that. So I do give you
Speaker:immense praise for that,
Speaker:and I'm sure a lot of listeners
Speaker:will. I want to end
Speaker:first, tell
Speaker:people how they can donate
Speaker:or contribute to what you're doing.
Speaker:Let's take a
Speaker:minute here and drop some.
Speaker:Links or whatever
Speaker:you've got, and then you can provide
Speaker:that to me after and I'll be sure to
Speaker:post it up when we post the episode.
Speaker:But how can people help you right
Speaker:now?
Speaker:We have we
Speaker:have a couple different ways.
Speaker:So we have.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:We do have a Facebook group,
Speaker:Lloydminster and Vermilion for
Speaker:Equity. It's a group.
Speaker:You have to join it.
Speaker:We have a Facebook page where anyone
Speaker:can join that.
Speaker:And then we if you
Speaker:want to donate to us, we have
Speaker:an email where you can EMT us
Speaker:lloydminster vermilion for equity
Speaker:at gmail.com.
Speaker:We did have a website, but I
Speaker:messed it up somehow, so
Speaker:I will.
Speaker:If anyone, if anyone
Speaker:knows how to build a website and can
Speaker:do it voluntarily, please
Speaker:let me know because I.
Speaker:Got you.
Speaker:Girl.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I was going to say I've got it.
Speaker:I've got a Slack channel that we
Speaker:can find somebody to help you with
Speaker:that that is not a problem.
Speaker:I don't know what the heck I did
Speaker:like. I got all the log in
Speaker:information. I'm like, I'm going to
Speaker:fix this.
Speaker:And it was not the greatest.
Speaker:And then I ended up going to check
Speaker:it out and it was like, This page
Speaker:cannot be found.
Speaker:Shame, shame.
Speaker:That's the worst return, right?
Speaker:It's like, oh.
Speaker:Man, I'm like, Oh, shit,
Speaker:what would I do?
Speaker:That's how we, all of us, teach each
Speaker:other, right? Like we just like
Speaker:trial and error.
Speaker:Like, bang your head against the
Speaker:wall is.
Speaker:Trial and error.
Speaker:And I think that's.
Speaker:Yeah, that's how you can find
Speaker:us.
Speaker:I will send you all those links when
Speaker:we're done.
Speaker:We'll also do a monthly book
Speaker:club if anyone is interested.
Speaker:Yeah, it's our page
Speaker:as well. It's a group.
Speaker:It's L-O-V-E book club.
Speaker:And we read
Speaker:obviously books about anti-racism,
Speaker:but we read books from other bipoc
Speaker:ah authors.
Speaker:We've read Robin
Speaker:Maynard's Police Black Lives.
Speaker:Abraham can be from the beginning,
Speaker:um,
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:clearing the plains, but I can't
Speaker:remember the author of that book.
Speaker:That was such a good book.
Speaker:But yes. So if you want to join
Speaker:that, it's L.V.
Speaker:Book Club on Facebook.
Speaker:Will make sure to get those links up
Speaker:and connected to the show as well.
Speaker:So on a parting thought,
Speaker:what I'm going to ask the both of
Speaker:you to do is just kind of briefly
Speaker:tell me what you're most
Speaker:proud of at this moment.
Speaker:And it could be related to what
Speaker:we've talked about or not at all.
Speaker:But yeah. What, what success do you
Speaker:want to tell us about. Ah, just what
Speaker:are you proud of?
Speaker:Share something really positive with
Speaker:us.
Speaker:Wow. There's, there's so
Speaker:many things I
Speaker:think I've had a good like I've been
Speaker:kind of sick the last little bit, so
Speaker:I'm trying to find all those little
Speaker:silver linings.
Speaker:I'll think of three off the top of
Speaker:my head, my monster.
Speaker:I gave me two babies recently, so.
Speaker:And I now have three monstera plants
Speaker:instead of one.
Speaker:I got to see T Grizzly
Speaker:Campbell today, which is incredible.
Speaker:I love seeing her face.
Speaker:She's probably one of my favorite
Speaker:human beings, so that's really
Speaker:great. I also got to see Jess
Speaker:McClain, which is really awesome.
Speaker:She's also really credible
Speaker:and I think what I'm most
Speaker:excited for is that
Speaker:it's almost springtime,
Speaker:which means that Tigra and I get to
Speaker:go do some entry for work
Speaker:and I bought a bunch of seeds.
Speaker:I have a bunch of really awesome
Speaker:food seeds and wildflower seeds
Speaker:ready to go in little seed
Speaker:bonds.
Speaker:And we're going to completely make
Speaker:Lloydminster a beautiful place to
Speaker:live, probably for the first time in
Speaker:the 14 years that I've also lived
Speaker:here, because we moved here in the
Speaker:same year.
Speaker:I feel like I have to send you two
Speaker:seeds now.
Speaker:It's just I know they don't cost a
Speaker:lot, but it's just seems symbolic.
Speaker:So I've got to grow light over
Speaker:there. I'm a spreader myself.
Speaker:I am. Surely I need your mailing
Speaker:addresses, both of you, because I
Speaker:feel like if that's all I can
Speaker:contribute to your cause and
Speaker:that's seeds of solidarity.
Speaker:I'm excited about gardening like I
Speaker:am. My hands need to be dirty all
Speaker:summer long.
Speaker:They already are.
Speaker:So Seeds of Solidarity
Speaker:is now a T-shirt.
Speaker:I sleep so good.
Speaker:Jay, Jay.
Speaker:Jay is listening.
Speaker:Please write all this down.
Speaker:We have a whole T-shirt factory we
Speaker:have to start.
Speaker:Apparently was seated.
Speaker:So t.
Speaker:Grr. You've got a lot to brag about
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:What are you most proud of right
Speaker:now?
Speaker:Well, I am like,
Speaker:I'm I'm so happy that I got
Speaker:to have this conversation today.
Speaker:So appreciative of it.
Speaker:Thanks so much.
Speaker:Does or including me.
Speaker:And yeah, I just love you so much.
Speaker:I have a really hard time
Speaker:talking, like talking about myself.
Speaker:I think a lot of people who have
Speaker:gone through trauma have the same
Speaker:the same outlook.
Speaker:I, I honestly,
Speaker:I'm really proud of my
Speaker:recovery.
Speaker:If I didn't get clean and sober,
Speaker:then I wouldn't be where I am today.
Speaker:In January,
Speaker:I celebrated six year clean
Speaker:and sober from alcohol
Speaker:and methamphetamine.
Speaker:Yeah,
Speaker:so I am.
Speaker:I'm sorry if you can hear them.
Speaker:I'm that's my number one
Speaker:proud moment.
Speaker:And I'm proud
Speaker:of my kids.
Speaker:I'm proud of the mom I am.
Speaker:And it's
Speaker:really hard. It's very hard work.
Speaker:And when you're neurodivergent,
Speaker:it's even harder.
Speaker:So I'm proud of that.
Speaker:And I'm proud of Alvey.
Speaker:I'm proud of the work that we've
Speaker:done in the community.
Speaker:I'm proud of the relationships
Speaker:that we've built.
Speaker:I'm proud of
Speaker:the the team and
Speaker:the support that we've that we've
Speaker:created and
Speaker:just having really awesome like
Speaker:minded people that
Speaker:we can build off of,
Speaker:have a think tank with, you
Speaker:know, have different
Speaker:low key missions so
Speaker:that, you know, we need to get this
Speaker:done and they're always down
Speaker:to do it.
Speaker:So, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm very proud
Speaker:of the work that we've done.
Speaker:And
Speaker:yeah, I guess I really want to
Speaker:honestly like thank the community,
Speaker:the vulnerable community and
Speaker:the unhoused community that we work
Speaker:with as well.
Speaker:We learn so much from them
Speaker:every week and
Speaker:we really wouldn't know what
Speaker:to do, how to support them if
Speaker:they didn't
Speaker:start to develop that trust with us
Speaker:and really trust us to be open,
Speaker:open with us.
Speaker:So yeah, well,
Speaker:I thank you for the same reasons
Speaker:like you came on here, both of you.
Speaker:I've learned a lot.
Speaker:I hope our listeners have learned a
Speaker:lot and take some inspiration
Speaker:from that, that they can learn
Speaker:by your example as as
Speaker:your mission kind of states.
Speaker:So I'm glad that you
Speaker:had a laundry list of things
Speaker:to be proud of because you sure do.
Speaker:You both do.
Speaker:I am so honored to be
Speaker:able to amplify that work.
Speaker:I will do my best to, you know, do
Speaker:that beyond the podcast as well
Speaker:because is so critical.
Speaker:I'm so grateful that people are
Speaker:still willing to do that through
Speaker:their struggles.
Speaker:And capitalism has not got
Speaker:everybody down.
Speaker:There are so many fires
Speaker:burning across Canada in places
Speaker:you would maybe not even think of.
Speaker:So again, thank
Speaker:you, wonderful women.
Speaker:So much for coming on here,
Speaker:being vulnerable, sharing your highs
Speaker:and your lows, expressing
Speaker:your love for one another as
Speaker:comrades is just
Speaker:absolutely beautiful.
Speaker:Way to start my weekend.
Speaker:So thank you again so
Speaker:much. I hope you enjoyed
Speaker:that discussion with T Grizzly and
Speaker:Dez and we want to remind
Speaker:you to be sure to check out the work
Speaker:of Lloydminster Vermilion Equity
Speaker:Foundation, the community building
Speaker:that we heard discussed today,
Speaker:and the importance of amplifying the
Speaker:voices of those most affected
Speaker:is what I'll take from me the most.
Speaker:Also the incredible camaraderie
Speaker:between the two.
Speaker:I think that is important
Speaker:in terms of kind of getting through
Speaker:the work that they do.
Speaker:I hope it inspires you as well,
Speaker:the listeners, to hear how
Speaker:much can be done in a really tough
Speaker:political environment with very
Speaker:little resources and very little
Speaker:time.
Speaker:Of course, as you hear,
Speaker:that is only made possible by,
Speaker:you know, finding genuine allies
Speaker:and comrades to share the workload,
Speaker:to push us to do better and
Speaker:to really support each other.
Speaker:We heard a lot about burnout and how
Speaker:exhausting the work can be.
Speaker:If we all could just have comrades
Speaker:like T Grizzly and days, just
Speaker:imagine the work that we could get
Speaker:done. I encourage you all to
Speaker:support each other in the way that
Speaker:they do and to keep working
Speaker:on thank you.
Speaker:Like in all things that we do, there
Speaker:is a team behind blueprints of
Speaker:destruction.
Speaker:I want to give a big thank you to
Speaker:our producers, Santiago.
Speaker:Hello, Quinn, Tero and
Speaker:Jay Woodruff.
Speaker:Our show is also made possible by
Speaker:the support of our listeners.
Speaker:So if you appreciate our content
Speaker:and would like to become a patriot,
Speaker:please visit us at.
Speaker:W w w dot patron
Speaker:backslash. BP of disruption.
Speaker:So if you know of any work that
Speaker:should be amplified or want
Speaker:to provide feedback of our show,
Speaker:please reach out to us on Twitter at
Speaker:BP of Disruption.
Speaker:Blueprints of Disruption is a
Speaker:project of New Left Media, an
