“People think they’re doing a recreational drug. They’re not what we would consider criminals, they’re high-functioning regular people in many cases, and they’re dying.”

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government would be more sensitive to the fentanyl overdose crisis if the people were dying on Parliament Hill’s doorstep instead of in distant B.C., provincial Health Minister Terry Lake charged Wednesday.  Read the rest of this article at The Windsor Star…

It’s laundry day for someone living in one of Chilliwack’s 15 homeless encampments. Wet clothes steam in the weak November sunlight, which filters through a stand of cottonwood trees growing on the banks of a drainage ditch that campers use for washing.  Read the rest of this article at The Vancouver Sun…

“The guy is so smart, his rapid-fire delivery so clean and confident, his wit so casual, copious, and reassuring that he makes the journey feel safe for the audience. He gives himself; he feels less alone and we feel less alone” [Georgia Straight]

Author, musician and slam poet Brendan McLeod visited with VIMHS resource development coordinator Gillian Baker, in the above image, after his performance of Brain at Nanaimo’s Port Theatre. Brendan explores his experiences with mental illness — specifically OCD — in his acclaimed monologue, now on tour after numerous fringe theatre performances. Vancouver Island Mental Health Society was featured as a community partner at the sold-out Port Theatre show. People First Radio will share an interview with Brendan McLeod soon…watch this space!