THE District of North Vancouver is scheduled to get its first women-only alcohol recovery centre following an emotional and unanimous vote by council Monday.
Earmarked for the wooded area at the north end of Lloyd Avenue, the two-storey, nine-bed North Shore Recovery House will help women dealing with alcoholism who are committed to changing their lives, according to Coun. Lisa Muri.
"Whenever park is mentioned in the District of North Vancouver . . . it brings the community out and it brings the community together to discuss any changes because we hold those parks so dear to us. But people we hold dear, too," she said.
Muri spoke in a trembling voice about a friend who died in her mid-40s due to alcoholism after several trips to detox facilities in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
"When she got out of those places there was nowhere for her to go and there was nowhere for her to learn how to live without alcohol," she said.
The treatment centre was initially greeted with opposition from neighbours who argued against rezoning parkland. Nestled alongside Murdo Frazer Park, the picturesque site was home to a rental property for nearly 40 years until the house was demolished in 2010.
"As much as I love those parks, I loved my girlfriend, too," Muri said. "I'm glad that we're taking this risk."
While the site will not be a park, it will serve a similar function, according to Coun. Alan Nixon.
"Parks serve a number of purposes, but I think we generally all agree that a park's primary service is as a place of healing for the mind and the body," he said. "This relatively small dedication of one park . . . for this particular healing process, I think is totally appropriate."
As a former Vancouver Police Department officer who observed the ravages of drug addiction amid the cluster of recovery centres in the Downtown Eastside, Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn championed bringing a treatment centre to North Vancouver.
"When I quit the police I resolved that what we needed is treatment and recovery," he said. "We spend too much money on enforcement and not enough money on treatment, and not enough money on recovery, and not a tenth of what we should be spending on prevention."
Many addicts in Vancouver are women of First Nations descent women who came to the Downtown Eastside after fleeing bleak conditions on reservations, according to MacKay-Dunn.
"These individuals were the forgotten ones," he said.
MacKay-Dunn called on other municipalities to support local recovery centres in the aim of reducing the burden shouldered by overcrowded facilities in Vancouver.
Acting mayor Mike Little told the story of a childhood friend who became addicted to heroin, later being shuffled between treatment centres.
"There was nothing anywhere near his family, his support circle," Little said, discussing his friend's loneliness.
The North Shore Recovery House is slated to offer abstinence-based treatment with an emphasis on employment and education training, as well as offering a program dealing with the links between domestic violence and substance abuse.
Mayor Richard Walton did not attend the meeting.
