Pubdate: Sun, 03 Jul 2016
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Laurie Monsebraaten
Page: A1

BROOKLYN'S LEGACY

Tireless advocate for safe injection sites ODs days before they are
expected to be approved

Brooklyn McNeil spent much of the last year advocating for a service
that could have saved her own life.

Instead, there will be an empty chair tomorrow as Toronto's board of
health debates whether to proceed with three safe injection sites in
the city after a record 258 overdose deaths in 2014 - a 77-per-cent
increase over a decade ago.

McNeil, an Ontario scholar, singer, artist and harm-reduction
advocate, died of an overdose in an east Toronto alley last month. She
would have turned 23 on Tuesday. "She was so amazing at helping so
many people," said her grieving mother, Thia Massaro, on the phone
from Thunder Bay, where McNeil grew up. "But in the end she couldn't
help herself." McNeil began injecting opiates when she was 18 and had
survived six previous overdoses.

She was the last deputant to speak in March when the board of health
voted to conduct community consultations around the proposed
supervised injection sites.

The service provides a safe, hygienic place for addicts to bring their
drugs and inject under the supervision of a nurse who can help if
anything goes wrong. She had planned to speak at the board of health
again Monday on the life-saving initiative.

"Brooklyn's death is speaking louder than anything she could have said
at the meeting," Massaro said.

"It happened to her - exactly what she was crying out for, a safe
place to inject.

"Instead, she was (found) sitting in an alley, by a dumpster, by
herself. That is the most heart-wrenching thing."

With an online poll showing community support as high as 96 per cent
and recent letters of support from both Toronto Mayor John Tory and
police Chief Mark Saunders, the board is expected to give the green
light Monday.

City council will be asked to give final approval later this
month.

A week ago, as news of McNeil's death on June 22 spread throughout the
youth shelter system where she lived and worked as a peer mentor,
heartbroken friends and shelter staff gathered at the South Riverdale
Community Health Centre's Drug Users' Memorial to mourn. More than 60
community members congregated next to the 2.5-metre copper flame
sculpture to light candles, hold hands and pay tribute to McNeil and
others lost to overdoses and related health complications.

The permanent memorial is believed to be the first of its kind in
North America.

It was designed by current and former drug users over two years under
the guidance of local street artist Rocky Dobey and unveiled in 2013.

The names of 130 who have died in the city's east end are etched into
the sculpture, including 10 added last month.

Services are held every three or four months.

"We are here to share our stories and our sorrow," said Jason
Altenberg, director of programs and services for the centre, one of
the three proposed supervised-injection sites.

"The war on drugs has turned into a war on people and that has got to
end," he told the gathering.

Services like the one last Monday take away the shame and stigma
attached to drug use by allowing friends and family members to honour
their loved ones together in a public way, he said in an interview.
"The community wanted something specific to humanize these deaths,"
Altenberg said about the memorial.

"These deaths are not just about homelessness and HIV, but about
overdoses and the long-term criminalization of a serious health issue."

McNeil's friends were among the last to speak during the moving,
open-air service that included songs and drumming by indigenous
musician Kayla Sutherland and vases of freshly cut flowers donated by
a neighbouring florist.

"You were a colleague, a friend and a mentor," said McNeil's friend
Akia Mungo, 24 as he choked back tears.

"You were the face of harm reduction and your light and words shall be
missed."

"The impact you made in my life, helping me keep sober and encouraging
me to be a radical activist even in the face of adversity will never
cease to exist."

Meagan Masse, 34, can't believe her friend is gone.

"She has given more to people in her short life and done more for harm
reduction than many professionals," Masse said.

"Anything negative you were feeling, she had a way of turning it
around."

McNeil, who had been staying at the YWCA's Woodlawn residence since
January, was "on top of the world" because she was about to move into
her own apartment in a social housing building, Masse said.

Her family was planning to visit Wednesday for a trip to Canada's
Wonderland and an evening at the theatre to see the Mirvish production
of Matilda.

"These deaths are absolutely preventable. Sure, there is the buddy
system. But you need somewhere safe to go," Masse said.

An animation student at Humber College before her addiction forced her
to drop out several years ago, McNeil was already making a mark in
harm-reduction work, shelter staff said.

"Brooklyn was an advanced peer worker, which meant that she was a
leader in the homeless youth community as a role model and
harm-reduction advocate," said Audrey Batterham, co-ordinator of the
peer program for Eva's Satellite, a shelter for youth struggling with
addictions, where McNeil lived last year.

Peer work is about people with "lived experience" supporting their
peers in ways that many social workers can't, Batterham said.

As McNeil told the board of health in her March deputation, "many of
my resources have come from addicts and harm-reduction workers over,
say, counsellors and therapists at rehab."

McNeil was paying it forward by offering workshops in youth shelters
and sharing her story and advice as a public speaker, Batterham said.

"My sister was crazy smart. She helped me write all my essays," said
Madison, 20.

"She was an old soul who, at age 5, asked my mom: 'What is my
purpose?' "

"I think she found her purpose," said Massaro, drawing strength from
stories of how her daughter changed the lives of so many other
troubled youths who have been flooding Facebook with
condolences.

"We will be watching on Monday to see what happens."

- --------------------------------------------------

[sidebar]

SOURCE: CITY OF TORONTO

INJECTION DRUG USE IN TORONTO

Injection drug use in Toronto, By the numbers

77%: Increase in drug overdose deaths in Toronto between 2004 and 2014.

258: Drug overdose deaths in 2014.

61%: Injection drug users who tested positive for hepatitis C in 2012 study.

5%: Those who tested positive for HIV.

100,000: Client visits to harm reduction services in 2015.

1.9 million: Clean needles distributed in 2015.

84% to 96%: Respondents to online survey who identified benefits to 
safe-injection sites.

4% to 36%: Respondents who identified concerns over safe-injection sites.

3: Safe-injection sites proposed for Toronto.

2: Safe-injection sites operating in Vancouver.

90: Safe-injection sites operating worldwide.
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MAP posted-by: Matt