{"id":53710,"date":"2020-02-03T10:29:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T17:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=53710"},"modified":"2021-02-11T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T03:48:11","slug":"bear-clan-watching-out-for-vulnerable-on-city-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2020\/02\/03\/bear-clan-watching-out-for-vulnerable-on-city-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear Clan watching out for vulnerable on city streets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bundled-up bears:<\/strong> Council members of Bear Clan and volunteers on patrol on Jan. 17.\u00a0 The group had just done another downtown patrol, in -26 C temperature. (Photo by Luca Staffa\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A<\/span>n \u2018old way of being\u2019 was introduced to Calgary in late November by an indigenous led and volunteer-based group known as the Bear Clan Patrol.<\/p>\n

G<\/span>itz Crazyboy, council member of Bear Clan in Calgary, said that the group’s initiatives are to have community watch-groups patrol the streets to help Calgary\u2019s most vulnerable, while supplying food, clothes, hygiene products, and naloxone kits<\/a> to those who need them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to humanize people who have an addiction, or who are living on the streets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Crazyboy said being part of the Bear Clan also fulfills an ancestral \u201cway of being\u201d in regards to his Indigenous heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re warriors, and part of the warrior\u2019s role in our culture is to protect our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crazyboy decided to initiate the Bear Clan chapter in Calgary after going on his first patrol in Winnipeg, where the Bear Clan group originated.<\/p>\n

The Bear Clan does two patrols every Friday, one downtown and another in Forest Lawn.<\/p>\n

They walk a six- to seven-block radius and hit all the \u201chot-spots\u201d in about three to four hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re checking-in with and befriending [vulnerable] people, something our society conditions us not to do,\u201d said Crazyboy.<\/p>\n

The Bear Clan\u2019s patrols also include the clean-up of needles and other drug-related contaminants they find.<\/p>\n

Crazyboy said that they have found up to 80 needles on the street on just one of their patrols.<\/p>\n

The clan takes volunteers on patrols if they sign a waiver, and are present at safety meetings before patrols.<\/p>\n

Staci Duchene braved Calgary\u2019s cold snap in mid-January and went on patrol with the Bear Clan for the first time, because she believes that it\u2019s up to members of the community to make the right changes.<\/p>\n

She said that it\u2019s not up to the government or non-profits, and responsibility needs to be taken within the community.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s the only way good change can happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Crazyboy fears that people who are marginalized and homeless are afraid to seek help, partly because of stigma and lived experience with police and other city services.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople living on the streets won\u2019t talk to police or [city services], but they will talk to us,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said that the Bear Clan is there to help amplify the voices that are too scared to speak, so they keep it anonymous and pass information on for those people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also trying to change the mentality of the police,” he added.<\/p>\n

In the future, Bear Clan wants to start doing searchs for missing people, but Crazyboy said they lack the manpower to do so right now.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re warriors, and part of the warrior\u2019s role in our culture is to protect our community. – Gitz Crazyboy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hip Beranger has been on patrols with the Bear Clan in Calgary for the past three months. He joined because, \u201cThere is a lack of care in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLoneliness is what most of the people we\u2019re helping are feeling out there, and loneliness is the biggest killer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re sincere with your actions, then a little bit of compassion goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An \u2018old way of being\u2019 has been introduced to Calgary in late November by an indigenous led and volunteer-based group known as the Bear Clan Patrol. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":53709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Bear Clan Patrol","footnotes":""},"categories":[711,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53710"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54155,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53710\/revisions\/54155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}