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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Biker spins hopeful story
Ex-drug dealer crossing Canada
Jamie Courtorielle is biking across Canada to help at-risk youth fight addiction with his campaign Riding 4 Mentors, Cycling for Change. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store
Jamie Courtorielle was 19 when his street life came to a dramatic halt. The former drug dealer was in a high-speed chase with Edmonton police, zooming 150 kilometres per hour down residential roads, a man he planned to rob in the back seat.
"I was running red lights, running stop signs," the 26-year-old remembered.
The police eventually stopped him with a spike belt and he was arrested. In prison, Courtorielle decided things had to change.
Now, Courtorielle is on another ride, but this time it's biking across Canada to tell his story about addiction and crime to other high-risk, aboriginal youth.
"Knowing who I am today, it's hard to believe that's the person I used to be," he said.
Courtorielle made it to Winnipeg July 23 after beginning his biking odyssey in Tofino, B.C., on June 1. Courtorielle has stopped along the way to speak with at-risk aboriginal youth and youth leaders.
"We have such high statistics with youth struggling with addiction and getting caught up in the jail system," said Courtorielle. "They need to see there's a way out of that box."
Finding positive mentors for at-risk youth is the main way to accomplish this, said Courtorielle, hence the name of his cycling adventure -- Riding 4 Mentors, Cycling 4 Change.
He is also collecting donations to sponsor his journey, with any money leftover going to iHuman Youth Society, the Edmonton organization he credits with getting him back on his feet after prison.
Courtorielle's struggles began long before the Edmonton chase, he explains. Drugs sent him into a downward spiral; he started smoking crack when he was 13 and later started using meth.
"I became a product of my environment," he said, saying his family helped introduce him to drugs. "Next thing you know, I'm rolling with the wrong crowd."
Michael Champagne hopes Courtorielle's story rubs off on Winnipeg's at-risk, aboriginal youth. Champagne is the organizer of Aboriginal Youth Opportunities in Winnipeg and hosted Courtorielle as a guest speaker at the bell tower on Selkirk Avenue Friday evening.
"A story is just a story. It's just words," said Champagne. "The difference with Jamie is that he's talking from the heart and it's relatable."
Addiction is an issue many youth in Winnipeg struggle with, he added, and there need to be more mentors to inspire them to change.
"I hope that they can realize," he said, "that their stories and their experiences make them a mentor and they have a responsibility to share their experiences."
What astonished Courtorielle during his journey across the country is how common his past difficulties are.
"What I've learned is that every city has the same issues," he said. "(What I'm doing) gives other people hope, people who were only strangers to me when I walked in the door."
On Wednesday, he met a Winnipeg woman in tears after hearing his story. She told Courtorielle she's a drug addict because of her family's use and his story gave her hope.
"She's trapped in that and she doesn't know what to do," he said.
More youth in Winnipeg need someone to look up to, said Jay Berens, a youth female mentor at Ka Ni Kanichihk, a non-profit corporation in the city that provides programs for aboriginal people.
"To see what Jamie is doing is inspiring," she said.
Berens also struggled with drug addictions, something she sees as the main issue facing aboriginal youth.
"If I'd had a mentor I wouldn't have had that loneliness and isolation," she said.
Courtorielle leaves Winnipeg on Monday and hopes to make it to Nova Scotia by the end of September.
"I've put in a lot of work to get to this point," he said. "Even my journey can become a teaching tool."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 28, 2012 A8
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