Walk Against Violence Continues

Greetings to all of you!

On May 6^th, the Multi-Faith Walk Against Violence completed 630 kilometres of its cross-Canada walk. The last notable stop for the walk was Edmundston, New Brunswick, where Syed Soharwardy was interviewed for a New Brunswick wide broadcast. This part of the journey was not always “smooth sailing”. The flooding in New Brunswick was witnessed first hand by the walkers, who also met with some of the flood victims. One day will certainly be remembered by the group as the day they walked 35 km in the rain. As the core group were mainly “prairie chickens” from Alberta, nobody had remembered to bring a pair of Wellington boots! The walkers had, however remembered to bring their bear bells, and that was fortunate. At one point along the route, they were stopped by members of the RCMP who asked them if they had seen a dead bear. They had not, but they walked on – not really put at ease by the information that bears were common in the area. The next day they did happen upon the carcass of an immense bear stretched across the road. Syed reported that it took up around 8 to 10 feet of space and would certainly have been taller than a man had it been able to stand upright. The walkers were sorry the bear was dead but thanked Almighty God they had not met up with it while it was still in the land of the living! Misadventures notwithstanding, the walkathon members have declared themselves “healthy and in good spirits” - and now walking an average of 40 km per day.

The walkathon members were impressed by the fact that the dampness of the weather had no apparent effect on the warmth of the response from the public. People waved and honked their horns in encouragement, and some took the time to accompany the faith leaders for short distances along the way. The walkers related how they were impressed by the woman who came out of her house to greet and thank them for doing their walk, and how a senior citizen arrived to take their photographs. Sometimes they were officially welcomed by municipal officials. In Sackville and Amherst, the deputy mayors presented the team with souvenirs.

Now they are in Quebec. Culture differences have already shown up in New Brunswick, with the French language increasingly used as the walkers approached Quebec. Despite this fact, at least one Francophone radio station has taken the trouble to interview them.

As the walkers traverse Quebec, they do so with the awareness that “la Belle Province” is now celebrating 400 years of existence. The colourful past of Quebec shows up in many of the place names along the route Multifaith Walk. The walkers will be passing towns with names like Notre-Dame-Du-Lac (Our Lady of the Lake) and St. Louis Du Ha!Ha! on their way to Riviere Du Loup, or the river of the wolf – so named, according to one story, because of the seals that could once be seen in large numbers along the waterways.

In keeping with the message of the Multifaith Walk Against Violence, we would like to remind our readers that May 5 to May 11 is Elizabeth Fry week. We salute the Elizabeth Fry Society, a nationwide organization working to help women and girls in the justice system.

On a lighter note – CBC radio informs us that May 9 is also Lost Sock Memorial Day – no doubt our cross Canada walkers have been through enough socks to make this day relevant, too!

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Linda Zachri

Media and Public Relations Coordinator

Raw Material

The Back Door would like to thank RedBull and Goodfoot for the donation of proceeds from the 2007 Raw Material Contest, a contest for up and coming Calgary artists to work on large scale installations with established street artist KWEST.

To Check out a video of the event Click Here.

Across Canada Multi-Faith Walk Against Violence

Historic Anti-Violence Walk Completes First Milestone

Today, the Multi-Faith Walk Against Violence passed its first Milestone by completing the walk across Nova Scotia. This morning the members of the Walkathon visited the Amherst, Nova Scotia Town Hall where the Deputy Mayor of Amherst welcomed the members of the Walkathon and presented them with souvenirs. After a brief ceremony at the town hall, the team resumed the walk. They crossed the boarder into New Brunswick this afternoon.

The Walkathon arrived in Sackville, New Brunswick where Sackville’s deputy mayor welcomed the team at the town hall and also presented them with souvenirs.

Tomorrow, Saturday April 26, the Walkathon will be arriving in Moncton, New Brunswick. The members of the Walkathon will be available for a media briefing outside the city hall (in case the city hall is closed).

The Walk is expected to end in Victoria, B.C. by October/November, 2008.

For any questions, please contact Syed Soharwardy at 416-994-5467 (leading the walk).

Project Homeless Connect

April 26th, 2008 at the TELUS Convention Centre, Calgary, AB

On Saturday, April 26th, 2008, from 9:00am to 4:00pm, the Calgary Homeless Foundation will be hosting Project Homeless Connect, a one day event at the TELUS Convention Centre that will bring together over 50 service agencies and organizations and more than 300 volunteers, to deliver services to over 500 homeless individuals in Calgary. Calgary is a large and busy city and accessing services is often one of the principle challenges faced by homeless individuals. Project Homeless Connect will eliminate that challenge by bringing the services together under one roof. Based on a program currently being implemented in over 130 cities around the world, Project Homeless Connect is about delivering services on site the day of the event. Individuals will have access to medical services, mental health and addictions counseling, housing, obtaining identification documents, income support, employment opportunities, comfort kits containing personal items, hot meals, clothing and more.

Speaker Event: Gabor Maté M.D.

Dr. Maté's Biography

X92.9fm, Proud Back Door Sponsors

Ginette Sowerby, Marketing and Promotions Director from X92.9 presents Back Door Executive Director Marilyn Dyck with a check for $11,000, proceeds from X92.9's 2007 Xposure CD featuring the best of Calgary's up and coming musical talent.

X92.9fm

Addictive Poison

Sweetened venom courses through veins
twisting, turning caught in chains
of love, hate and all the rest
ask the dead they know best
Don’t break the habit of breaking me
So I can show these scars for all to see
Let us change this us to we
and keep spreading your poison all through me

addicted to your poison and caught in deadly trance
one two three, one two three
a hypnotic anarchy dance
one two three, one two three
Don’t stop, slow down, keep in beat
beating your deadliness all through me

Addicted to your suicidal tendencies
your venom is all my dependency
Stop through dancing and chains still move
Your hurting enough with nothing to prove
Don’t break the habit of breaking me
So I can show these scars for all to see
Let us change this us to we
and keep spreading your poison all through me

addicted to your poison and caught in deadly trance
one two three, one two three
a hypnotic anarchy dance
one two three, one two three
Don’t stop, slow down, keep in beat
beating your deadliness through me…

Zander