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Special houses were established in
Goose Bay, each taking four or five children. Most of the houses were
equipped with computers for schoolwork. The children were still watched
around the clock, even when they went to play hockey or swim.
Social workers were realizing that to keep the children gas-free, their
parents had to change their ways, too. "Initially, you want to be mad at
the parents," said Andrew. "Yet, we know [they] suffered, too. It's not
because they don't love their kids. They are dealing with their own
trauma of sexual abuse by priests and as children seeing their parents
humiliated. That was the harder part."
The Band Council pushed the government for more money and started
taking the children's families to an old fishing lodge for retreats.
These included lots of talking and sharing of stories, as well as
reviving Innu customs that have largely died out, such as hunting, in
the belief that bringing them back might help mental health.
Drug policy people "Harm reduction is their view". This is who we wanna be when we grow up.
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When the children were ready to leave Goose Bay, after staying as long
as a year, they sometimes returned to parents who, for the first time in
a long time, were sober. Other children went to foster parents who were
paid not to work outside the home but to take care of the children and
keep them away from gas.
Phillip won't say much about his year of rehab. But he does say that
when he returned to Sheshatshiu, he was different: "I didn't feel like
going back to gas sniffing."
Lingering Effects
There is a clear difference in the community now. Two years ago, the
children walked the streets like ghosts with plastic bags sealed around
their mouths. They smiled for the cameras that put their images all over
Canada and much of the world. "Hasta la vista, baby!" Pien Jack used to
shout.
But now he is quiet, as if the gas took away his words. Two years ago,
Pien Jack was 12, and his nose was running, his tennis shoes were
untied, saliva was dripping from his mouth, and he was stumbling around.
Today, he is...»»
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