February 1-7, 2009 is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week in Canada
Our society’s preoccupation with body image is reflected in the fact that, at any given time, 70% of women and 35% of men are dieting. More seriously, a 1993 Statistics Canada Survey reported that in women between the ages of 15 and 25, 1-2% have anorexia and 3-5% have bulimia.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, with 10% to 20% eventually dying from complications. Eating disorders also cross cultural, racial and socio-economic boundaries, and affect men and women. These potentially life-threatening conditions are also a growing problem. (more…)
Victoria’s popular Movie Monday film series presents a weekend of films and forums about homelessness this Saturday, Sunday and Monday (January 24-26th). It begins Saturday evening at 7 p.m. with special guest Judy Graves, Vancouver’s city housing advocate and a screening of The Cats of Mirikitani. Several more films will be screened and then the weekend winds up on Monday at 6:30 p.m. with Last Call at the Gladstone Hotel, along with a live telephone discussion with the filmmaker Derreck Roemer. 
In September 2008 the Canadian Mental Health Association purchased the Balmoral Hotel building on Haliburton Street in Nanaimo for the purposes of providing supportive housing and outreach. Christina Martens, CMHA’s Mid-Island Branch executive director, said that the organization had invested in the community and was looking forward to being a good neighbour, despite hearing some initial concerns about the plans. 
Wallace Malay is a Nanaimo artist and a student at Vancouver Island University. There was a time, however, when Wallace was homeless, ill, and in active addiction.