An Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving conference at Fort Frances High School last weekend not only brought together youths from across the district, but gave leaders in substance abuse prevention a chance to network and exchange ideas.
“We’re trying to get a big substance abuse prevention program started,” said Sue Morris, who is with the Northwestern Health Unit in Kenora.
Morris attended the conference at the invitation of Brad Herbert, head of the Rainy River Substance Abuse Prevention team in Fort Frances.
She explained the SAP team here has worked on smaller projects with the health unit in Kenora, as well as with Rob Kilgour from the SAP team in Red Lake.
But now they would like to build a network of teams across the region to work together and share resources.
“Before we were limited in what we could do. Now we’re bringing the region to a really high level. I’ll be helping Brad and Rob spread the word,” she remarked.
Morris also brought along her 16-year-old daughter, Veronica, who will make a presentation to the school council and administration at Beaver Brae in Kenora on what she learned at the conference.
Hopefully, it will spark enough interest to start up an OSAID group at her school.
“The kids here in Fort put on a great conference. They motivated so many young people to make a difference,” Morris said. “If you give them the tools, only good things can happen.”
The conference began Friday afternoon and wrapped up Saturday morning. About 20 students attended, mostly from Fort High and some from Stratton, as well as Morris from Kenora.
More were invited from Rainy River and Atikokan, but they weren’t able to travel here because of the weather.
The conference were briefly interrupted Friday night when Herbert introduced Times publisher Jim Cumming to the group.
Cumming surprised the students by presenting plaques to two local OSAID members, Chelsea Green (the group’s president) and Ashley Ryan. Both had been nominated as Ontario Junior Citizens of the Year—an annual award sponsored by the Ontario Community Newspapers Association.
The pair were nominated not only for their work with OSAID, but for their work with children at the Fort Frances Public Library.
Later, Herbert spoke to the students about the effects of impaired driving and how many lives are touched by tragedy as a result.
Students also watched a video made of a “mock crash” the local OSAID group had staged back in November. “I’m very happy it was so touching for people,” Green said of the video.
The mock crash involved the combined efforts of the local OPP, fire department, and paramedics, many of whom donated their time for the event.
OSAID members and other Fort High students played the roles of accident victims and witnesses.
The video of the crash will be used in classrooms across the district to show students what a serious accident involving an impaired driver looks like. Herbert also will showcase it at an upcoming conference in Toronto.
Students at the youth conference also learned about what an OSAID group does—and how to keep it going.
“They were a very mature group, very sensitive to the issues,” said Green, who will be graduating this year. “Being that young, they can take the info and go away and do something with it.”
Green is hoping to inspire younger high school students in Fort Frances to join the group as well as other communities to start their own.
“We want to start a network of OSAID groups in Northwestern Ontario,” she explained, adding the local group is the only one in the region outside of Thunder Bay.
“We talked about how to get one started, and how to maintain it. It takes communication and dedication to the cause,” she continued, adding, “I’m hopeful.”
Herbert also was pleased with how things went. “Hopefully we can do something like this every year,” he said.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
