Woman helps drug awareness
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Fort Simpson (Nov 27/00) - Tanya Tourangeau knows about addictions.
She grew up in Fort Smith, and remembers how her father abandoned the family home and that her mother was an alcoholic and drug user.
Tourangeau, who now lives in Edmonton, uses her personal experiences to give youths an insight into the dangers of drugs.
And although it has been 10 years since Tourangeau has been involved in an abusive relationship, she still becomes emotional when recalling those hurtful times.
"It's still hard to talk about," she told students at Thomas Simpson school as she wiped away tears.
Tourangeau and her partner, Stuart Lennie, visited Fort Simpson and Fort Liard as part of National Addiction Awareness Week activities. Lennie, a former weekend binge drinker, spoke of how he has fought to overcome his addiction and how meeting Tourangeau has helped him.
Tourangeau recounted that she managed to become president of the student council and kept many people in the dark about her bleak home life. But she was actually dealing drugs for her mother at age 11.
"Nobody ever told me that I could ask for help," she said.
At age 14 she intentionally became pregnant because she wanted a baby, someone who would love her unconditionally. Fortunately, her baby managed to survive despite complications at birth. Unfortunately, her boyfriend was beating her so badly that she decided to run away from home with her young son. She said she went to the RCMP detachment with "16 fist-sized, deep black and blue bruises" all over her body. She also had broken ribs.
"I didn't want my son to be a wife beater," she said. "I didn't want him to think it was OK to hit women."
She moved to Edmonton and returned to school. Fascinated by police work, she was made a constable on the Edmonton City Police force at age 17.
"I was really proud of myself. I loved wearing the uniform, the training and travelling all over," she recalled.
After four years as a cop, she said she realized that all she was doing was arresting people, many of them aboriginal. She turned in her badge to begin touring and talking about native identity and breaking the cycle of drugs, alcohol and abuse.
She met Lennie and together they formed Back to Our Roots, the presentation that brought them to Fort Liard and Fort Simpson.
"I could have followed in my mom's footsteps and been a big-time dealer," she said. "But we didn't give in to that."
