A young Mi’kmaw man has reached a circle by helping those struggling with potentially fatal challenges he once faced on a daily basis.
“I remember when I was a customer, when I came in here and just as someone spoke to me, it made a big difference. As someone who lived on the streets, who has addiction, ”Landon Morton said.
Landon, who goes through “Morty”, is now a peer support worker at Mainline Needle Exchange in Halifax – a community harm reduction organization he once relied on to help him through some of his darkest days.
“I felt trapped, and I was pretty much ready for death. “Every time I tried to make any changes, (I) hit a barrier,” he said of his struggle with addiction.
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When Morty was in the depths of a drug use disorder, he encountered legal problems in his home county, New Brunswick, which led him on a path of desperation.
Overwhelmed and scared, he drove to Nova Scotia where the connection he built through community groups like Mainline helped give him the strength and insight to finally face his charges.
“I did some bad things, right, to be completely honest. A lot of it was because of my addiction, right. But I feel a certain level of accountability is needed, so that’s another reason why I wanted to do it, but it was mostly just to not have it over my head, ”Morty said.
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Morty’s charges were transferred to Nova Scotia after his admission of guilt. When that process was completed, his attorney asked for a judicial referral to the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program.
The judge granted the referral and the Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network took over his file to help guide him through the recovery process and compile a pre-sentence report.
The Mi’kmaw Legal Support Network helps First Nations people living in Nova Scotia navigate the justice system by working in partnership with the province.
Their work is focused on healing the root causes of trauma that First Nations people like Morty can take for negative encounters with the criminal justice system.
“I went in and said why I did the things I did, my story, that led me to where I am. “It was much more trauma-informed than a typical court would be,” he said.
“And instead of thinking how can we punish you? That was, how can we help you? ”
When his pre-sentence report was completed, Morty went before a judge who finally gave him an absolute dismissal, giving Morty the opportunity to move forward with his life without the weight of a criminal record hanging over him.
“Life is good today, which is amazing. I never really thought I would enjoy my life – even as a kid I did not like myself. “Now, I’m happy, and I always thought it’s just a made-up word, but I understand it,” he said.
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