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# Letter: Clients at Gwekwaadziwin deserve accolades
- URL: /letter-clients-at-gwekwaadziwin-deserve-accolades/
- Published: 2026-09-01T11:00:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-01T11:00:42.000Z
- Description: Gwekwaadziwin Miikan graduates celebrated 90 days of recovery and a 150km canoe journey, boasting a 75% long-term sobriety rate with support from Ontario's Associate AG.
- Author: Expositor Staff
- Tags: Letters to the Editor

### 75 percent of clients maintain longterm sobriety

To the Expositor:

I had the good fortune to see a posting on my phone on Tuesday morning, August 25, that the Voyageur canoe built by the summer clients of Gwekwaadziwin Miikan was passing under the Swing Bridge at 10 am. A moment of thought and I was out the door. Why? Because the clients of Gwekwaadziwin Miikan were graduating from the 90-day land-based recovery program based at Aundeck Omni Kaning 91成人导航, and I felt that these clients and staff needed to be cheered and applauded for not only completing 90 days of the recovery program but also for the accomplishment of building a Voyageur canoe. 

Upon completing the construction of the canoe, the staff and clients embarked on a 150+ km paddling journey from Cockburn Island to Aundeck Omni Kaning 91成人导航 via the Spanish River and North Channel.

When I first arrived at the concrete docks in front of the Manitoulin Hotel and Conference Centre, I was encouraged to find the bridge walkway packed with family and friends of the paddlers鈥攃lients and staff. I was also equally surprised to be standing next to the Associate Attorney General of Ontario, the Honourable Michael Tibollo. He was there simply to encourage, cheer and applaud the two canoes making their way through the current under the swing bridge. He was not surrounded by cameras and delegations. While speaking to him I learned that he not only was the Associate Attorney General of Ontario but also a physician and a lawyer who has a strong conviction that land-based recovery programs would go a very long way in stopping the overdose deaths in the Province. 

We again met at the park in Aundeck Omni Kaning Park, where the arrival of the canoes were met with drumming, singing and tears of joy from clients, family and friends. While I was viewing the canoe, I discovered the slogan which had been painted on a plaque in the bow. 鈥淒ON鈥橳 LOOK BACK.鈥� (I asked the client if I could submit this photo to The Expositor and he agreed.) How appropriate, I thought, for 12 men and women who had struggled through the disease of alcoholism and drug addition and come out the other end happy, joyous and free. They truly understood the motto, 鈥淒on鈥檛 Look Back.鈥� 

Moving ahead to the graduation and feast, the gratitude of all was overwhelming. Without fanfare, lights and cameras, the Honourable Michael Tibollo assured the assembly that funding for this premier facility would continue for a long, long time. What a blessing for the Island to have this facility. And what a blessing this Province has an Associate Attorney General in the Honourable Michael Tibollo who graciously spent his day recognizing the achievements of the 12 men and woman graduates. 

Leon Frisch

Little Current

P.S. The current statistics for Gwekwaadziwin Miikan indicate that 75 percent of clients maintain long term sobriety.