Editor’s Note: This story ran last weekend, but an editing glitch prevented some subscribers from being able to read it.
By Alison Strachan
Where and What We Ate:
My guest, Lenore Zann , chose to meet at the Nook and Cranny Pub on Prince Street in Truro.
Lenore Zann at the Nook and Cranny Pub in Truro.
The Nook and Cranny is owned by the Truro Group of Companies (co-owners Derek and Jenna Forsyth), that also owns Salty Dog Brewing Company, Sauced Wood-Fired Pizza Company, and The Hubtown Sports Bar (formerly Bubba Ray’s). Derek and a silent partner reportedly also own Belly Up BBQ & Grill.
Zann ordered the colourful quinoa Greek salad and my other guest, George Greer ordered the jumbo plate-sized Southwest Burger. I opted for a decidedly delicious spinach salad without mushrooms (allergy reasons).
There were no leftovers.
Who were my Lunch Dates:
Lenore Zann: NDP MLA for Truro, Bible Hill, Salmon River and Millbrook; and George Greer, BSc., Psychology (Dalhousie), currently wrapping up a diploma in Digital Animation at the Nova Scotia Community College, Truro Campus. Disclosure: George is my 28-year-old son.
George Greer of Halifax-Truro.
Why Lunch with Lenore:
Bill No. 108: The Nova Scotia Cannabis Control Act, and comments she made during the debate leading up to the Bill’s recent Royal Assent. The Act will become effective once federal legislation decriminalizing cannabis comes into place likely on or near July 1, 2018.
During House debates, Zann made the following comments that made me want to know more about the Nova Scotian playwright, actress, and activist MLA.
“I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this bill, being somebody who is a sober alcoholic. I just celebrated my 23rd year of sobriety this week… So as somebody who has been addicted to a drug — and I call the drug alcohol, that was my drug of choice. Cannabis is also a drug, but alcohol is a drug, too. When we hear talk of young people abusing, overusing, taking too much of a drug, I have to say alcohol is probably the biggest killer in our society today — not just from direct use, but also from accidents like car accidents”.
Lenore Zann as a 20-year-old in the classic horror film Happy Birthday To Me!
“How many times have we here known of young people out celebrating their graduation, or the proms and we find out the next day that they’ve had a terrible accident and are dead? I can’t even name how many times that’s happened to me growing up in Truro in a rural environment. Back when I was a young person growing up, I mean there wasn’t that much to do, so a lot of people would drink. They would smoke dope, but they would mainly drink and they would drive.”
In those two paragraphs of debate, Zann shone a spotlight on what might be a bigger consideration of the day than cannabis legalization: alcoholism, an already regulated substance that continues to plague individuals despite regulation governing access and distribution.
What she didn’t say is that in 2014 she was chosen as one of five national spokespersons for mental health and addictions by the Canadian Association of Mental Health and Illness (connected to the Bell Let’s Talk).
During that year, she was featured in national ads and TV videos on the issue of mental health. In particular, she talked about addiction, chronic anxiety, and depression and met with parliamentarians in Ottawa to talk about what she views as “a desperate need for a federal mental health strategy” and more government investment in mental health and addictions.
Lenore Zann with Dr. Ingrid Waldron. Co-drafers of a private bill to address Environmental Racism. It’s been introduced in the NS legislature, and has garnered international attention. It’s the first bill of its kind, but hasn’t been approved by government.
She was not speaking ‘just’ as an alcoholic in recovery but as an active advocate for addiction and mental health change.
What we talked about at lunch:
Once introductions were out of the way, Zann told Greer and me that cannabis “should be legalized. It’s time. It will decriminalize so many people,” but we can’t overlook that alcohol is regulated and “we’re not doing such a great job” on the public health implications of that drug.
Greer chimed in that it “should’ve been done a long time ago”, but his question at lunch was “where is the tax going to go?”
He says that in his opinion “it’s just not a big deal” for his age group. He says bigger issues include the opioid situation and he agrees with Zann that how we as a society deal, or don’t deal, with addictions is the bigger issue.
Both Zann and Greer commented that harm reduction (i.e., methadone, suboxone) could use more funding as a proactive safety program through taxation of cannabis, and both agreed that research, education, and communication may be a good use of tax revenue.
Some of the cast of Happy Birthday To Me at a reunion in Toronto last month. Lenore Zann has a red hat on.
I asked Zann what it felt like when she said the above during debate. She said, “people were definitely listening.” She says that when a member of the legislature speaks on a personal level, i.e., “what has happened to us,” people listen.
Zann noted that the legislation is currently unclear for municipalities and leaves it up to them to address the public places where you can smoke cannabis, though individual bylaws could be confusing for tourists and casual day travellers if each municipality has different laws.
I suggested that Greer might want to create a helpful ‘Dope App’ where tourists and residents alike can find out where you can smoke when they cross municipality lines.
Although we got a little laugh out of that, it remains a live issue for municipalities.
We left cannabis at that point and turned the focus back on Zann and some light lunch ‘getting to know you’ type chatter.
Lenore Zann with some of the students from Ecole Acadienne de Truro, starring in La Journee de Jolly.
Greer had never met Zann before. Turns out Greer’s dad, Peter Greer, and Zann both worked on an early Paul Donovan (1985) project Dev-Con 4.
Before I go too far, at the end of lunch, I asked Greer what he thought about Zann and he said: “we need more politicians like that.”
To me, that was a strong endorsement from an age group that has been accused of being not fully engaged in politics.
So, let’s see why Greer arrived at his concluding comment.
We had an active discussion on addiction.
Zann told us that “all addictions can lead to death — either through suicide, disease or accident.” She says “addiction is a symptom of your ‘dis-ease’ and most addicts self-medicate with a substance or a repeated behaviour that eases their discomfort to make them feel more comfortable in their own skin — at least in the beginning.
“In order to quit an addiction,” Zann said, “one must learn to first accept the fact one is addicted, and replace the self-destructive behaviour with something healthy.”
For her, she says, that something was found in 1996 when she was living and working in the TV industry in Los Angeles.
On the evening of April 11, 1996, Zann says she “went to bed as an active alcoholic.”
On the morning of April 12, 1996, she says she “woke up alone and suicidal.” She explained to us that later that morning on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Los Angeles, her life literally changed overnight.
Zann said she “finally found the courage to call AA when she woke up that morning. A wonderful woman named Amanda came to my door full of hope and joy.” Amanda had “a glow about her and simply beamed.”
Amanda drove her to her first AA meeting: ‘Back to Basics’ on Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Lenore Zann’s River John cottage.
Zann reminded me and Greer (who was six at the time) that racial tensions were high in Los Angeles then over the acquittal of white police officers caught on tape ruthlessly beating Rodney King.
Once inside the meeting, Zann says she met “many compassionate women who took it upon themselves to take care of her.”
Zann described herself as a “very sick little white gal” who was “loved back to health” by a Black community of AA members.
She says they “taught her that the only thing that will fill the void inside is acceptance and self-love.”
In fact, Zann says that once inside the meeting, “the elders of the group used her sudden appearance as a teaching moment. Essentially saying ‘We are all the same. It doesn’t matter what colour your skin is, what sex you are, or anything else. When you are an alcoholic it will kill you. We all need to support each other and help each other survive.”
Zann recalls the chair of that meeting, a man named Leon. Yes, Leon and Lenore.
She recalls him sharing his story which included the fact that he was in the same place she was 30 years before on that same day, in the middle of the Watts race riots in LA.
Zann remembers Leon telling her, “You don’t love yourself right now but we love you and will keep loving you ’til you learn how to love yourself.”
She says Leon told her that “30 years ago that day, a white woman came up to him and said ‘You’re in pain aren’t you? If you’re ready and want help, I have a place I can take you to’.”
That woman, Zann says, “took Leon to an all-white AA meeting where she and that group loved him back to health and he had not had a drink since.”
Zann says this “affirmed for me at that moment what I already believed – that my main reason for being is to try to bring people together.”
The word spirituality is often talked about in AA, Al-Anon, CoDA, and NA circles that embrace the 12-step model of recovery.
Some say they don’t go any further with one of those fellowship groups because they either don’t believe in God or that the God of their understanding has failed them so many times before.
Many in the program say that they simply believe in a Higher Power of some sort, even if it’s just the power of the group itself.
So my next question for Zann was what is her definition of spirituality?
She paused for a few moments. Not because she didn’t know the answer but because she wanted to be clear.
“Spirituality for me is a feeling of being one with the universe. Being connected with every living thing including the natural environment. Everything is alive and we are just a small part of the whole puzzle. This small planet is part of the greater universe and all is connected.
“I just try to spread kindness and compassion and I try to do that in my personal life and in my political life.”
Zann’s NDP critic portfolios are not light. They are Environment, Aboriginal Affairs, Status of Women, Post-Secondary Education, and Agriculture — where she believes strongly in “helping Nova Scotian farmers get good food to the table.”
“I feel grateful for the life that has been given me and grateful for the people who have in my deepest hours of need come forward to help me. I know some people look at me and think ‘Oh she has everything — she’s had it easy all her life’, but they have no idea what I’ve been through. And that’s why I don’t judge others.
“I always say, but for the grace of God go I. Once you’ve had to go through the eye of the needle — and survived — you become a much more compassionate person. After all my experiences both good and bad, I just want to give back and do service for others.”
She says she values her personal energy and uses that energy for social justice — hoping to help people see the whole picture, not just a perspective and adds that it is “because of my own personal experience that I am.”
This was the point where Greer responded to my question about what he thought of Zann and his reply: “we need more politicians like that.”
Zann left us to volunteer her “kindness and compassion” as director for La Journee de Jolly (Jolly’s Journey), a musical by Julie Blue, an international film composer based in Vancouver.
Zann is working with the Truro Français Centre Communautaire, which is producing the musical starring approximately 29 student ages six to 13 from École acadienne de Truro, a francophone public school. The show will be on May 30-31 at the Truro NSCC for schools with a public evening show May 31 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Endnote:
After lunch ended, I learned that Zann has been invited to return to Los Angeles in 2019 to be a guest speaker at an International Women’s Alcoholic’s Anonymous convention. She will have 24 years of sobriety behind her at that point and will tell her story to that group. What a change and what an opportunity.
