July 7th Helen and Patrick's Update Sober Quest 2008

Day Three of Sober Quest 2008: We left Seattle about 10:00 AM and crossed the US/Canadian Border about noon. By 1:00 PM we were having coffee and snacks with Earl Moulton and his wife Maureen. I met them both 2 years at Vision Quest in Alkali Lake. Earl is a retired RCMP Director from Saskatchewan Province. He was one of the individuals who initiated the move for the RCMP to apologize to First Nations about the residential schools debacle about three years ago. The Canadian government followed suite recently.

It was fascinating listening to him talk about the various other projects he has got going like a yearly Fraser River canoe trip in which he invites RCMP officers, First Nations youth and parents and various community leaders to float down the Fraser River for 4 days and build positive, sober and supportive relationships. Earl and Maureen are also on the board of a private treatment center called Vision Quest Recovery Society. He said that one aspect of the treatment that he is especially proud of is their positive outcomes with meth users. I will look into it further as any program having success with meth deserves attention.

Earl was mentioned a number of times on the power-point that Charlene Belleau used in her presentation at the BFI Consensus Conference in 2006. He has been a strong friend of the Alkali Lake Sobriety Movement and a leader in building bridges between the RCMP (predominantly non-native and First Nations) He is an individual worth staying connected to. I plan to invite him and Maureen to participate in our PIR program.

3rd Annual Youth for Sobriety Powwow: This was an amazing event. I can only hope the Round-up is so well attended and inspiring. This was organized by some of the young, sober members of the community. They had visitors from various locations in /B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan. In fact their was a drum and singing group from Saskatchewan made up of an extended family of young males ranging in ages from 9 to 26. They are all very committed to sobriety and when they saw an e-mail about the powwow a few weeks back, they called and asked to drum and sing. The quality of their music is excellent. The event, like the Round-up was a comp-out and a huge family event. Kids of 3 or 4 yrs old up to elders of 80+yrs were dressed in their regalia and dancing around the arbor. It was beautiful to watch.