The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 42

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1987 C3 IbGDGall Police suspect arson in 5 of 6 weekend fires By David Gamble and Brad Smith Citizen staff writers I 'Airily iSS WWW Ottawa fire department platoon chief John Cardinal said the fire was concentrated in the office area in some filing cabinets. No estimate of the damage was available, Cardinal said. Aylmer firefighters were called to the top floor of a 10-storey apartment building at 60 Cormier St. Saturday night. The fire caused about $50,000 damage to one apartment unit.

The building was evacuated soon after fire was reported about 11:45 p.m. and residents were allowed to return to their apartments about 1 a.m. Sunday, said an Aylmer police spokesman. "The fire may be of criminal nature," the spokesman said. Earlier Saturday, Ottawa firefighters were called to a Manor Park townhouse at 282 Alvin Rd.

where flames from a garbage storage room at the rear of the house spread to the roof, causing an estimated $45,000 damage. Gatineau police say a fire that destroyed a bus owned by Gatineau radio station CJRC early Monday morning was deliberately set. Francois Lessard, a reporter at the radio station, said police have a witness who saw a car speed away from the station just before the fire began. Gatineau police say a fire about five hours earlier in a pick-up truck on Tache" Road in the Lim-bour area off Hwy. 307 was also deliberately set.

There were no injuries in any of the weekend fires. Arson is suspected in five of six fires in Ottawa-Carleton and the Outaouais on the Thanksgiving weekend, including one in a Wel- lington Street building previously gutted by fire in March. That fire Sunday night in a printing shop at Wellington Street and Fairmont Avenue caused about $50,000 damage to the shop and contents, while neighboring shops escaped serious damage. Riopelle's Ottawa Litho, at 3 Fairmont was scheduled to open today. The fire started in a concrete- block addition at the rear of the two-storey building about 7:15 p.m.

The Ontario Fire Marshal and Ottawa police are investigat- ing. "We consider this a suspicious fire and we're looking into it," said Ottawa police Insp. Peter Hudz. The building housing the printing shop was also burned in March when there was $300,000 damage. That blaze, started by an electrical fault, left nine people homeless and put four stores out of business.

A smaller fire Sunday night at a Bronson Avenue gravestone shop is also under investigation, Hudz said. Firefighters were called to George Brown and Sons Ltd. at 473 Bronson about 8:30 p.m. Sunday when a fire was reported in the one-storey building. Eastview ex Citizen staff A former reeve of Eastview, now Vanier, died Friday after a short illness.

Leo Cantin, who was reeve from 1939 to 1940, spent 22 years on council. He was 93. The former politician died after a recent stroke and bout of pneumonia. Carmen Huneault, of Vanier, said he had lived alone in his Montfort Avenue apartment until February when he became ill. Citizen photo As the number of distress so does the need for volunteers AraswOTiiifiig fiCn calls Distress Centre volunteers are pulse of valuable service Ninety-five agencies in Ottawa-Carleton and West Quebec assist one in four residents.

Officials hope raise $9.2 million in Ottawa-Carleton and $1.41 million in West Quebec. If you haven't been canvassed home or the office and want to a contributioncall 236-9585 in Ottawa-Carleton or 771-7751 in the Outaouais. flction Lino i SZf Tony Cote By Sharon Trottier Citizen staff writer ften it's just a matter of being there to listen, someone to talk to when there's nowhere else to turn. Other times they're the link between life and death. Volunteers at the Ottawa Distress Centre are the pulse and lifeline of one of the region's most valued community services.

For 18 years, the centre's volunteers have manned an anonymous 24-hour, confidential phone line for people in distress. About 22,000 calls a year ring through the centre, where they're answered by one of about 150 volunteers trained to listen. Although there is no typical caller, feelings of loneliness and isolation account for many of the calls. Relationship problems, mental or physical health, alcohol or drug abuse also are among the most common reasons. Last year, most calls came from men and women between 20 and 39.

"Many of the callers have been beaten down so many times they have very little self-worth," says Helen, who became a volunteer at the centre about a year ago "to pay a debt." It's a debt she says she owes to friends who helped her through the most trying time of her life a few years ago when her 25-year marriage ended. "There were times when I wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger," says the 52-year-old mother of two. Helen knew there were services she could turn to for help, but she didn't know where to look. So she turned to friends for support "But there are so many lonely people out there who have no friends to lean on." Her voice is almost hypnotic, a warm, soothing sound seeming ly capable of lulling even the most distraught listener. It's a calls increases each year, quality shared by many of the centre's volunteers.

''We look for people who are warm, caring and non-judgmental," said Janet MacPhee, the centre's executive director. The centre was founded in 1969 by a group of local residents, including Pat Deleridge, who came to Canada from Britain, where the first distress centres were set up by church groups. "The centre was founded on the belief that people have a lot of inner resources and often what they really only need is someone to talk to," said MacPhee. "They need help sifting and sorting through their problems and knowing the best direction to take." Volunteers don't act as counsellors. They're trained to help people reach conclusions on their own about what they can do to help themselves.

About four per cent of calls are suicide related. Those callers are strongly encouraged to get professional help, said MacPhee. "We know suicidal feelings can end, it's not a mental illness." Volunteers only intervene in life-threatening situations, in which a caller has done or taken something to end his or her life. In that case, the volunteer may try to find the name and address of the caller and send emergency help. There were 30 such situations last year, down from 45 in 1985.

Volunteers are screened carefully and, once accepted, led through eight training sessions during which they're taught listening skills. Sibel Touzin dexribed soup at the Shepherds. He admitted he could have had seconds. At the Union Mission on Waller Street, Sibel Touzin, 39, said her Thanksgivif of turkey and all few every to at make reeve dies Cantin Street in Vanier is named in honor of the former politician. Cantin sat on Eastview town council from 1935 to 1956 as alderman, deputy reeve and reeve.

Cantin is survived by his sister Alice Fontaine, 89. The title of reeve became mayor when Eastview became a city in the early '60s. Eastview changed its name to Vanier in 1969. until Sept. 18.

thing for the second time. The be picked up on Sept. 4. But on my wing chair. I refused it.

didn t. Finally after more tele days off work but this many is of is my lost pay and circula doesn make up for the expe summer. One last thing. The heard over its telephone sys 4- lion target. Another nine per cent of the Ottawa centre's budget is to come from the West Quebec United Way campaign.

Tel-Aide received $33,000 from the United Way this year, about 30 per cent of its budget, and expects a similar amount in 1988. Both centres say finding enough volunteers to staff the phone lines has been difficult. At the Ottawa distress at least 300 shifts are staffed each month. Supporting the volunteers during their shifts are leaders, who are experienced volunteers on call for advice and moral support, particularly for difficult calls. "We don't want our volunteers to go home and stew over an upsetting call," said MacPhee.

"The leaders are there for them to lean on." Like Helen, many of the volunteers have gone through difficult situations in their own life, she said. "They know what it can feel like to be depressed or perhaps even suicidal." Some of the most satisfying calls are those in which a past experience in the volunteer's life is similar to the caller's dilemma. A strong bond of empathy and understanding is forged, with deeply satisfying results on both sides. But some calls are "emotionally draining," says Kathy, who recently became a volunteer at the distress centre. "Many times you have to draw the caller out," she said.

"It takes a lot of inner feelings on the volunteer's part." But for Helen and Kathy, and most distress centre volunteers, the work is "tremendously rewarding." Says Kathy: "It's a great feeling to know that you've helped someone just by listening to them." The Ottawa Distress Centre can be reached at 238-3311 and Tel-Aide Outaouais at 741-6433. Don Hearst, 53, is even more of a regular he's lived at the Union Mission for about five years since losing the room he rented. Hearst says he had an epileptic seizure at his last place, and was asked to leave because he hit his head and bled on the carpet "The superintendent was afraid it was likely to happen again." Touzin and Hearst were among 251 diners at the Waller Street mission, about 100 more than staff expected. Wilf Charbonneau, assistant director at Shepherds of Good Hope, said demand for the Thanksgiving meal grows each year. "And there's an awful lot of young people coming to us now." But he said Thanksgiving is special and the kitchen, which gets groceries from Ottawa's Food Bank, churches and private donations, had eight turkeys to carve.

"The response was just great," he said, as diners streamed in from the afternoon chill to fill empty stomacftj. Do you need help with a problem? If so, call Action Line at 829-9100 from 9 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday or write to Action Line at the Citizen, P.O. Box 5020, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M4. Please send photocopies of original documents.

We cannot acknowledge receipt of letters. Brick compensates with free offer Why must I pay for The Brick's unreliable and unorganized operation? In June we selected a wing chair, love seat, speaker stands and an audio stand. The items were to be delivered July 24 as the love seat and chair were on back order. 1 The delay was fine with us as it gave us a chance to redecorate the room at our leisure. Little did we know how much leisure we would end up with.

On July 20, someone from The Brick called to tell me the order would be delivered July 23. Great. I took the day off work and waited. No one showed up. On the 24th, at 8:30 a.m., The Brick Arrived at my door.

They had the wrong chair and the audio stand was damaged. I called and was put on hold for half an hour. The wait was made even worse because I was forced to listen to a radio station I don't like. When someone finally served me I was told the right chair would be delivered on July 31 and the audio stand would be picked up the same day. Fine.

I stayed home once more. When no one turned up I called and was told the stand was on back order until Aug. 6 and the chair until Aug. 21. Upset and frustrated, I called the head office in Rexdale.

We were assured someone would be by on Aug. 6 to pick up the entire order and give us a total refund. On the fourth, I had cooled down and went to the store on Meri-vale Road and made arrangements to keep the love seat but return the damaged stand and the speaker stands. A manager agreed and said he would make the necessary changes to the Aug. 6 work order.

He didn't. I stayed home that day. The Brick showed up but the driver wanted everything. I convinced him to take the stands and give me a credit note for them. I was promised a refund in three weeks.

On Aug. 18 The Brick called me to say my wing chair was in and would be delivered in two days. I arranged to take the day off work. On Aug. 19 The Brick called and said there would be no de "They learn how to really hear what someone is saying and how to respond," said MacPhee.

Through role-playing, volunteers are taught how to manage a suicidal situation and other emergency calls, such as child abuse or wife battering. As the number of callers increases each year, so does the need for more phone lines and volunteers, said MacPhee. A survey two years ago showed, in one month, callers to the distress line got 29,000 busy signals. "We were able to determine that for every caller who was successful in reaching the distress centre, there were between six and 10 who tried but never got through," said MacPhee. Tel-Aide Outaouais, the distress centre's francophone counterpart, has set up a toll-free service covering the entire Ottawa-Hull and Outaouais region.

The new service aimed at rural residents is slated to begin Nov. 1. The nine-month, $45,000 pilot project funded by the Quebec government will provide help to callers from places like Maniwaki, Fort-Coulonge and Montebello. A Tel-Aide spokesman said the centre needs more volunteers to help staff the line. Both the Ottawa Distress Centre and Tel-Aide Outaouais receive funding from the United Way.

The Ottawa centre will receive $136,535, or about 60 per cent of its $200,000 budget, from the United Way of Ottawa-Carleton next year if the United Way campaign reaches its $9.2 mil Wayne Heibert, Citizen kitchen meal as not bad the trimmings was "not bad." She eats regularly at soup kitchens "when I run short of gro- ceries." Without their help, "I would starve, I guess." Hundreds flock to soup kitchens with thanksgiving livery. The chair was on back order That was it. I cancelled the whole love seat and chair I had were to Aug. 21 The Brick showed up with Sept. 4 arrived but The Bnck phone calls The Brick makes a promise of a Sept.

9 pickup. They made it. I can accept having to take two enough to stretch anyone's limit The trip to The Brick in June has cost me many days' pay, long distance telephone calls and no By Jim Bronskill Citizen staff writer Robert Mays may be having trouble finding work, but his family was still able to celebrate Thanksgiving thanks to the Shepherds of Good Hope. They were among more than 340 who enjoyed turkey dinner and pumpkin pie at the Murray Street mission Monday. "It's better than not having any," said May's wife Karen as the couple filed out with sons Gerald, 10, and Stephen, 6.

The Mays, who just arrived from Edmonton, are staying at the YM-YWCA on Argyle Street. They have $32 a day to spend on meals while Robert searches for work. "We've been looking for it all the way out from Edmonton," he said. "Work is work. It's so hard to find, you have to take what you can get." For Manuel Wilson, 29, it was the secfljUd Thanksgiving in a row The only compensation I can think tion of this letter.

L. Toman, Embrun I don't think the above tale needs any comment The Brick tells me that it has finally straightened your problem out Credit charges have been cancelled, your contract has been torn up and, as compensation, you have been asked to come into the store and pick out a free TV or microwave. It a fair offer though it certainly rience you were put through this Brick has changed the radio station tem, i.