People First Radio

As outreach workers, Lea-lah Manson and Lance Point work with people who have likely experienced brain injuries on top of dealing with the effects of homelessness and addiction. Manson says there can be a tendency for society not to look at those who have experienced brain injuries as people. “We don’t see people who have […]

Estimates are that there have been upwards of 600 000 possible cases of brain injury associated with drug poisoning in Canada since 2016, according to Mauricio Garcia-Barrera, a lead researcher with the BC Consensus on Brain Injury project. “By definition, any time that a person loses consciousness because they are not breathing, we are talking […]

Campbell River resident Ashley Kendrick spoke about the relationships she tries to create with parents when fulfilling the role of a foster parent. “You’re not trying to replace [parents]. You’re not trying to step in and steal their kids. You want their kids to go home. You’re wanting to foster that relationship and you create […]

Charlie Cavanagh started boxing at age 12. She’s represented Canada at international competitions and brought home medals, and she wants the public to remember that there’s a person behind the elite athletes on TV. “We’re hyper aware of the eyes that are on us and, after a poor performance, you get a lot of negative […]

The 100 Fine Gentlemen of Oceanside Who Give a Damn are one of a number of groups in the area based on a similar idea. Members agree to donate $100 to charity 4 times a year. Every quarter they meet and vote on what charity will receive those funds, which founder Kim Burden says are […]

After joining the army and training as a medic, and working as a civilian paramedic, Matthew Heneghan wants the public to remember that first responders are human. “We wear a uniform. We have a skill, but we are not impervious to the effects of sadness and trauma,” he said. Heneghan shared his story recovering from […]

Happipad is a non-profit that matches people with empty bedrooms with people looking for a place to live. Based in Kelowna, the group has agreements with partners in a number of communities across B.C., as well as one with the provincial government in Nova Scotia. CEO Cailan Libby spoke with People First Radio following a […]

Alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance in the country, according to a government of Canada webpage. As a regulated substance, there’s a comprehensive system of rules dictating things like where and when alcohol can be sold, how much it needs to cost, how it’s allowed to be advertised, and what kind of warnings […]

15 years ago, Connally McDougall sold her first dress. “I was working in a gallery and the owner said, ‘Hey, if you or anyone you know are makers, why don’t you show us your work and we’ll see if we deign to put it in our gallery,'” she said. McDougall submitted a dress made from […]

Guy Felicella spent 30 years in the repeated cycles of gangs, addiction, treatment, and jail. Today, he lives with his wife and three young children, and has over a decade of recovery and sobriety under his belt. Felicella was one of the speakers at a recent community dialogue on the toxic drug crisis at Nanaimo’s […]

One day, when they were in the eighth grade, Christopher Lee and a group of friends decided to spend a Sunday a little differently. “We were just like, ‘Hmm, there’s something wrong in our community. We’re able to live such a nice and amazing life, but there are people who aren’t able to live that […]

Parksville resident Earl Blacklock has been recognized by the BC Achievement Foundation for his work helping expand the number of trained counsellors practicing on Vancouver Island. The Executive Director of Island Community Councilling, Blacklock said that the bulk of the work that he does is with trauma survivors. “The definition of trauma that I use […]

Vancouver non profit First United has created an interactive map that provides information on a number of evictions across B.C. Sarah Marsden, director of systems change and legal at First United, spoke with People First Radio to help break down the data. One finding was that around 1 in 4 people reported not finding a […]

WeCan Shelter Society is a Comox Valley organization that builds homes inside shipping containers for people who had previously been experiencing homelessness to move into. Charlene Davis, one of the group’s founders, spoke with People First Radio. She said it takes between $25,000 and $30,000 to build a unit and get a person living in […]

Managing director Dorothy Morrison calls Victoria’s Imagine Studio Cafe a “cafe classroom.” The cafe offers employment to young adults who may otherwise face barriers due to mental health, addiction, and homelessness. “There’s a lot of talk, but not a lot of action. So we needed to try to make a difference,” Morrison said. She said […]

The Nanaimo Foodshare is using food to help people move forward. On Mondays, in the basement of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, anyone from the community is invited to come share in a free meal, prepared by people in the Foodshare’s employment programs, under the tutelage of professional chef Calven Chow. Called the Monday Lunch together […]

Artificial Intelligence is making its way into more and more areas of our lives, a phenomenon that isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. While AI isn’t necessarily part of our official publicly insured health care system quite yet, Zoha Khawaja says that day is coming, so we should be proactive about figuring out some […]

When the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic meant closures and reduced service for restaurants, there was a bunch of food that was suddenly without a place to go. Enter the Red Cedar Cafe in Victoria, which was born as a way to put that food to good use. Four years later circumstances have changed, […]

As a teacher librarian, Sara Stone is no stranger to children’s books. But it was what she wasn’t seeing on the shelves, combined with some personal experience, that prompted her to add author to her resume. Stone has written a series of children’s books about sensory processing disorder. Healthlink BC says that children with sensory […]

Marlo Mayers spoke with the media ahead of moving into a new supportive housing building in Nanaimo. Called Corenerstone, The 51 unit building is operated by Connective Nanaimo, formerly known as the Nanaimo Region John Howard Society. Residents at a temporary housing site in Nanaimo called Newcastle Place are being prioritized to move in, which […]

Around a decade ago Zakia Moulaoui Guery was working in a job where she’d get to know the stories of people who’d experienced homelessness. She realized that people in her life outside work were interested in hearing those stories as well, but that they didn’t have any awareness or exposure to them. Moulaoui Guery wanted […]

Singing and songwriting have helped Parksville-Qualicum’s Amarii express things he’s struggled to talk about. Now, they’ve also helped him sign with a new label, Kolossal Records. Amarii says he remembers falling in love with music sitting in front of the television watching Much Music Videos at age 12, but that he only started making music […]

Ten months after being shot in the line of duty and having her leg amputated in 1998, Laurie White was able to return to full unrestricted duties with the RCMP. When she was first asked to share her story, White says she wasn’t sure what people would want to know, but she quickly realized the […]

Gillian Kolla has been looking into the impact the drug toxicity crisis is having on people working to respond to overdose. “While people really, really find doing harm reduction work and doing service provision for people who use drugs to be valuable and rewarding work, it has been emotionally devastating as the drug toxicity crisis […]

Eight years after British Columbia declared a public health emergency due to a significant increase in drug-related overdoses and deaths, Moms Stop The Harm co-founder Leslie McBain wants people to continue to remember the human impact of the situation. “The deaths are piling up and they are people, they’re not just a number,” she said. […]