Church service helps people vent feelings about the riot
Posted Jun 26, 2011 05:25:45 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Healing was the theme this afternoon, as about 80 people gathered at Christ Church Cathedral at Georgia and Burrard to talk about the Stanley Cup riot.
The Very Rev. Peter Elliott says people needed a place to share their feelings of anger and disappointment from that night.
“People were shell-shocked at the capacity for violence that is just so close below the surface,” he tells News1130. “This was a small step, you know? But just saying ‘let’s talk together, let’s listen to each other, let’s be respectful, and let’s reclaim the city.”
The reverend said people spoke primarily about the “Fear that came to their hearts and minds.”
“Still others talked about anger at folks who rioted, and disappointment with some of the ways that some of the people who were involved were quickly labeled as ‘losers’ and ‘hooligans.'”
The event wrapped up with walk with First Nations drummers to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, where prayers were said.
