Letter: We go to vigils and nothing seems to change

By Letter to the Editor on March 5, 2021.

Dear editor,

We go to vigils and nothing seems to change. 

Isn’t it great that there are so many things to do online these days, including vigils. I have been to three vigils in the last month. There was the vigil for homeless people in Regina, where there were 48 candles lit for people. There was the vigil for a safe consumption site in Barrie, Ont., which was very well done. Barrie needs a safe consumption site.  I grew up 25 miles away from Barrie, so that was one of the reasons I watched this.  Today was the big vigil, March 1, the Disability Day of Mourning, when we remember the people with disabilities murdered by their families or caregivers. 

Back when I was entering the World of Autism, in 1994 or so, I just discovered the murdered list of autistics, this was a gruesome list and I won’t go into details. Later on however, vigils started when George Hodgins was murdered by his mother in the early 2000s and we started having the vigil for George.  Vigil for George morphed into the vigil that we have today, the Disability Day of Mourning. There was a list of 1,500 names read out which took over an hour to read. There were newborns, two year olds, families of children, teenagers, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. People just like me and my son. I remember when George, 22, was killed by his mother with a shotgun. People of course felt sorry for the mother having to raise a disabled youth. An autistic, they said she didn’t have enough services. Which of course she had turned down. It is an important day in the disability community when we remember these people.  

It is important to have these other vigils for the homeless that just want the necessities of life, like the disabled and also those who just want a safe drug supply because they have become addicted to drugs and it is a disease just like any other. People are people and we all deserve the same things in life, a roof over our heads, food to eat and to be treated with dignity. 

Diane MacNaughton

Redcliff

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