Rethink Resources

Here’s the news that caught my eye this week.

While a major trial is happening in Vancouver for one serial killer, Winnipeg is coming to the conclusion they have more than one serial killer still targeting women and youth on the streets.

A seventeen-year-old young woman Fonasa Lynn Bruyere, who went missing in August, was just identified as the latest victim. In another article, a representative from a local Native youth agency had this to say:

Getty said Bruyere was known for the past three or four years by Ndinawe outreach workers who go into the community and chat with street sex workers about safety.

She said Bruyere sometimes collected free harm-reduction kits containing condoms and high-energy food, but it took resource workers a significant amount of time to earn Bruyere’s trust. Many youth in the community who use Ndinawe’s 16-bed safe house knew Bruyere, said Getty.

“She was too afraid to even come into the resource centre,” Getty said. “It took them a year or two (for the outreach workers) to gain her trust.

“For a year, she’d come and get a harm-reduction kit and take it and leave. She wouldn’t even look them in the eye. At some point, they got to know who she was and she started talking to them. They built a relationship with her.”

In Ohio, three girls are suing officials of a local jail for being harassed and strip-searched when they took part in a scare-tactic tour of the jail.

The official news source of Disney World reported that an employee was arrested by federal agents on child and, as they clarified, baby pornography.

NYC released a survey of teen sex and birth control use. The great news is that condom use remains strong with almost 70% of sexually active teens relying on condoms for birth control. It’s an excellent short report covering emergency contraception too. Check it out here.

Lastly a thoughtful article on harm reduction from a Catholic perspective talks about the ethical debate and why some Catholic scientists and ethicists believe Jesus would be a harm reductionist.