To the Editor:
I carefully read Lorne Eckersley’s column, “Facing the mental health challenge head-on”. I agree with Lorne that mental illness, like depression, is a stigma that is not easily understood, let alone easily rooted out of our social conscience. I also agree with him that Chief Jason Louie has struggled in his life with a mental illness, but that is where Lorne and I part company.
Lorne went on to depict Louie as a victim that has been treated cruelly by his people and family for reasons unbeknownst to him. Louie is the author of his own misfortune, however. As a Lower Kootenay Band member, there are valid reasons why Louie has been shunned by some of his people, including his family members. A simple question-and-answer session with band members or a journalistic investigation by Lorne would reveal the reasons.
Louie has looked after himself remarkably well these past four years while suffering from a mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After living on the Lower Kootenay reserve, and being under Louie’s so-called “leadership”, I now have PTSD. For Lorne to say that Louie has left the Lower Kootenay community a better place than when he started depends on which band member you talk to, but the public needs to know that there is another side of the story that Lorne failed to mention.
Rob Louie
Lower Kootenay Band