Man ‘crawls for hope’

On Nov. 14, Albert Jamieson, accompanied by loving family members, crawled (yes, crawled) from Ochiichagwebabigoining to the Grand Council Treaty #3 administrative office located on Round Lake—a distance of 30 km.
Jamieson’s “Crawl for Hope” was meant to raise awareness of the substance abuses happening to the people of our nation, and to reach those who seem to be unreachable and uncaring.
“We need our chiefs to be more supportive and vocal when it comes to the issues that create and maintain substance abuse,” he said.
Even though Jamieson, a NNADAP worker, suffered blisters to his hands and knees during his crawl, this was his chosen way of expressing his passion for wanting people to seek better, healthier ways of living.
He wants them to know there is hope—and that there is always someone who loves them with all their heart.
Jamieson crawled for you as a child who may have attended a residential school; he crawled for those who abuse themselves with alcohol, pills, and chemicals.
He kept crawling for children whose hearts are broken because they are in foster care, for those who live with family violence and lateral violence, and those who strive to cope with effects of suicide.
“This disease that is killing of our people, young and old alike, it is truly destroying our way of life,” said Treaty #3 Ogichidaa Arnold Gardner.
“Substance abuse impacts our communities in so many harmful ways, it is truly the root of the many social, educational, and economic problems that plague our communities and our people,” he stressed.
“This issue is a multi-generational issue that has eroded our people for far too long,” echoed Jamieson.
Jamieson went on to ask for all leaders in Treaty #3 to support this initiative raising awareness.
He would like to see other workers stand up and speak about substance abuse, family violence, and how it affects their community members.
The fact the crawl was done during Addiction Awareness Week is an appropriate time to raise the profile of this issue.
Gardner fully supports the initiative Jamieson has taken on, and will do so by consistently raising this issue at the local, regional, and national levels.