A Sudbury woman recently found herself at the centre of controversy when she released what she called an “awareness video” on Nov. 18.
Melissa Poitras-Belanger, a local real estate agent and country singer, worked with a local video production company to produce what is, in essence, a music video on the homelessness and addiction issues in the downtown core.
Since September, Poitras-Belanger said she has been actively volunteering and leading clothing drives and other support activities in the downtown, and was so moved by the plight of the people that she wanted to do something to raise awareness. So she decided to use her singing talent to do just that.
Produced with the help of Icedrum Media, the video depicts Poitras-Belanger speaking and interacting with members of the downtown community. The video also features Denise Sandul. Sandul’s 22-year-old son Myles Keaney died of an opioid overdose on Sept. 8. A memorial cross placed in front of the downtown fire station in his memory has grown into a veritable graveyard of some 80 crosses, each marking a local person’s life lost to the opioid epidemic, in front of Sudbury Theatre Centre.
Despite what Poitras-Belanger said were her good intentions, the music video is being criticized by at least one service group that works with the vulnerable downtown population as exploitative. One scene in the video in particular is being singled out.
At the three-minute mark of the video, set to the Poitras-Belanger’s cover of ‘Somebody's Someone,' written by Nashville-based Daphne Willis, there is a scene of a man being resuscitated from a drug overdose. His face is blurred, but his body, and vulnerable moments, are not. The scene was not staged.
It is this scene, and the lack of consent received from the real people depicted, that has posed the greatest problem for those who do not agree with its creation or its release.
Tracy Gregory is the volunteer executive director for SWANS (Sex Workers Advisory Network of Sudbury), a local organisation dedicated to improving the overall health and wellbeing of women who work or have worked in the sex industry. SWANS also works to improve working conditions through education, advocacy, referral and peer support.
She told Sudbury.com her issue with the video stems from the community members featured without their consent.
“We know that the injustices around poverty and the overdose crisis needs to be discussed and exposed,” said Gregory. “We know that government needs to do more to support community members; but we cannot have that exposure and activism at the expense and exploitation of community members who are already struggling to connect with services and supports.”
It is with this point that Poitras-Belanger agrees, and she said so in a Nov. 23 Facebook post, where she apologized for her lack of consideration on that end. She said she obtained only verbal consent, but used an easily visible and large camera, and in an interview with Sudbury.com, stated that those who are simply in the background of the video were in a public area anyway, and so, in her opinion, had consented by implication.
Poitras-Belanger is quite clear that while she regrets some aspects of the video, she believes that the awareness raised and the supportive feedback she received made it all worthwhile.
She notes that she did not receive a negative comment until the video had reached 25,000 views — it is at 45,000 as of this writing — and that in truth, she achieved her goals.
“Why did we do it? Awareness and change. What is happening? Awareness and change.”
Gregory disagrees.
“When it is done without consent, that’s exploiting someone and their struggle, and that is not acceptable. No matter how much awareness you raise, no matter how many donations you get, it is not acceptable to exploit an individual’s lived experience for your purpose.”
But Poitras-Belanger feels that in no way has she benefitted from this, but rather, has paid a steep price.
“My family has been attacked, my professional career has been attacked,” she said. “This was me saying: I have the ability to do this. It is going to be challenging, it is going to be controversial, but at the end of the day I didn’t care. I have nothing to gain from this, only so much to lose.”
She said this need came from her realizing over her time volunteering with clothing drives and other activities that there was a need for more help – especially with the pandemic’s effects on the world and in Sudbury.
“We needed to do something because the services just weren’t there,” she said. “With COVID protocol, the street-level services were especially thinned out. So then we started doing clothing drives. We have taken people from sandals to winter boots, and we have done that single-handedly.”
But this is another point of contention for Gregory. While it is true that community programs are underfunded and underserviced, that just means they need more help, not that they are incapable. “We know there is not enough support, and we are fighting to get more support,” said Gregory. “We do need community support and involvement, but not at the expense of people and their right to safe service.”
She added, “They should not have to walk through a gauntlet of cameras to get a sandwich. Donations do not buy the right to exploitation.”
Gregory said that community work needs to be done in a safe way, and in a respectful way, and notes again that “we very much want to work with community members.”
It’s here that she advises a different approach. If you saw the video or any of the news recently and feel the need to do something, reach out to an existing organization. They will be thrilled to hear from you. (A list of these organisations is at the bottom of this story.)
“We want volunteers,” said Gregory. “We want the community helping us to do the very best we can with what we have.”
In fact, if you are looking to donate something needed, SWANS is hoping for the donation of unlocked phones and tablets so that they can provide them to those who need them. Phones improve a person’s safety by giving them or someone they know a way to reach out for help, Gregory said, but phones also allow those who are struggling to access programs and support. Thanks to the pandemic, most of those services are now almost exclusively online.
If you would like to donate, you can email [email protected] or call (705)280-8005.
But as for Poitras-Belanger and her video, she maintains that her intentions were pure.
“I stand with conviction that we did the right thing,” she said. “But the Sunday after the video was released, we had probably three times the amount of clothing at our drive.”
Please feel free to reach out to these and other community organizations should you desire to help.
