Well, I am going to nominate Bruce for a Courage To Come Back Award. I think he needs to have some kind of award for what he has been through. Here is his story which I hope will sway the panel. Or at least clear his name for some who mistakenly believe he was to blame for what happened in Nanaimo in August 1993.

From filling out the Nomination criteria for “Courage to Come Back Award” for 2024

In January 1984 Bruce left his hometown of Fraser Lake BC for Toronto. His plan was to find a job and take night school courses in Commercial Art at the University of Ontario. He would room with a part time teacher he’d met while attending high school in Edmonton. He had 9000 dollars earned from working in a sawmill in Fraser Lake for 2 years following graduation. His ex- teacher and friends helped him spend his money on supplies of high-grade marijuana. Bruce moved into his own apartment. Eight months later, in September 1984, his land lady called me saying she wanted him evicted after he was discharged from East Toronto General Hospital. He’d had a severe psychotic episode. When Bruce arrived home, he was skin and bones but mentally stable.

Over the years he was put on many different medications which seemed to help ground him for a while but had many side effects and seemed to lose their effectiveness after a time. He spent some time in Nanaimo and tried to attend courses in art and music at Malaspino College. The stress was too much for him and he had to drop out. His illness was such that at times he seemed to excel socially and, as well, in many aspects of everyday living; and then suddenly, he could cope no longer in whatever he was attempting to do. He was often involved in projects through Mental Health such as writing, illustrating, and publishing small magazines and books. A few years after being sentenced to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute, he once again became involved in writing and illustrating a magazine featuring patients’ creativity.

When he became a resident of Victory House in Vancouver in about 1998, he began a 20-year routine of busing every morning to open the Gallery Gachet venue to write articles, poetry, songs and stories on their computers. He’s also written several full length novels.

His paintings and drawings have been exhibited several times at the Gallery in both individual and group exhibitions. He also plays his guitar and sings with friends, and at various events including church services and gatherings.

Bruce has never had what could be called a real job after he returned from Toronto in 1994 at the age of 21. It broke his heart at first to be categorized as “unemployable.” This he learned from his doctor after having setbacks because of his schizophrenia. Several years later he left his father’s home on Vancouver Island, boarding a bus for Toronto. He ended up sleeping on the streets for a few months and being harassed and abused while in a psychotic state of mind. I received a call from a concerned person about his mental health and Bruce returned home to Fraser Lake.

Bruce was reluctant to take medication because of its extreme side effects. I could not blame him because at times his eyes would roll back into their sockets, along with other muscle related disturbances. Eventually, I had to send him back to being under the care of his father and stepmother. I could no longer handle the stress of attempting to coerce him into taking the pills. I did realise that he suffered both physical and mental side effects from meds such as Haldol, Stellazine, etc. But I had a younger child at home and was suffering from stress related pains in my chest.

It was in Nanaimo in 1993, after he was put on a newer medication called Risperdal, that his spiraling hallucinations and delusions spun out of control. Bruce was discharged from Nanaimo Regional General Hospital in August, where he had been put on a new drug called Risperdal. He had been in the hospital for 22 days and during that time his former group home was no longer available. Bruce had been moved into a group home managed by The Salvation Army. The custodians were not very knowledgeable about schizophrenia.

On the day in question, Bruce had asked for help and an ambulance had taken him to the hospital. He told paramedics that he was afraid he might hurt himself or others in the horrific state of mind that he was in.

The doctor in Emergency did not understand that his patient’s mental health was worsening. There were no secure beds and Bruce was asked if he wanted to go home. The voices in his head were warning him that he would be given a lobotomy in a different hospital (he could have opted for an ambulance ride to a hospital in Comox), so he opted to return to his group home.

Bruce was sent downstairs to his bedroom. The voices in his head were threatening that they would make him kill himself or someone else. Bruce attempted to quell the voices by slicing at his wrist with a dull razor blade that he’d found in a drawer. It didn’t work. He then proceeded upstairs with a bloody towel wrapped around his wrist. He walked through the crowd in the upstairs lounge and, in the kitchen, discovered a large knife.

Believing he needed to kill himself to dispel the voices, he went back downstairs to his room. He soon became overwhelmed by the “bad” voices screaming inside his head. He approached a fellow resident who happened to be lounging in an open area on a chesterfield. The young man died from a stab wound to the chest. Bruce had wielded the knife from behind.

When the police arrived, Bruce was lying on the floor with saliva foaming at the mouth. His deranged mind believed that he, himself, was dying. He was charged with second degree murder. Six months later in a Nanaimo courthouse, he was acquitted because of a “Mental Disorder.” He was sent to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam to reside. Bruce was periodically assessed by members of a Mental Health Review Board throughout the four and a half years he was ensconced at FPI.

In Nanaimo, an official Mental Health Inquiry was launched into three different circumstances, including what had occurred with Bruce, of erroneous discharges and refusals of admittance, at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, all of which had occurred within a few weeks time. Because of the Inquiry, changes were made, particularly to do with a lack of communications between mental health services in the city.

Bruce was sent to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam where he spent 4 and a half years. He was put on a medication called Clozapine, which he has been taking continuously since that time. It has been effective in curbing his symptoms. He received an absolute discharge from FPI in about 1997. Since that time, he has been residing at Victory House in Vancouver. He visits family every year and when I am in Vancouver I visit him,

Bruce has self published several books of poetry. I helped him choose the best of his many well written poems and he titled the small volume “The Moon and The Well.” Several years ago, he received a grant from a Vancouver based fund and was able to produce 20 or 30 copies of a nicely printed and bound graphic novel titled “Glory Dogs.”

One of Bruce’s paintings is on the cover of one of my published books and he illustrated a self-published book of my short stories.

Bruce’s graphic short story book was published by Boxer Books in September 2018. A forward to the book, “I Threw a Brick Through a Window”, was composed by Cecily Nicholson, recent winner of the Governor Generals Book Award for Poetry.

Cecily wrote….”The artist paints to express chaos of a believing soul and shares in our horror. Through intelligent self-taught renderings, Ray’s encapsulations and story fragments advance splashes of philosophy with dexterity and a willingness to be sincere and therefore vulnerable..”

Bruce wrote in the book’s Introduction: ….”The stories in this book, though not autobiographical, are pieces and shards of myself.”

Three of the graphic stories in the book had been a previous collaboration between Bruce, who had drawn and composed the scripts, and fellow Gachet member and talented photographer Mr. Tom Quirk, who narrated and videotaped them into an attractive and professional presentation. The presentation helped with acquiring funding for the Gallery Gachet to continue providing services.

For more than 20 years, Bruce was on the board of Gallery Gachet. Along with associates & staff, he welcomed those who stopped by to visit or attend workshops, as well as greeting those attending the exhibitions. He was also involved with helping to settle disputes, hiring new staff etc. in 2018 he curated an art exhibition for several of his fellow artists who were displaying their work.

Bruce has participated in poetry readings at the Gallery and often plays guitar and sings, mostly his own compositions, both at the Gallery and at the group home where he resides. He has recently collaborated with the music director at a church he attends to combine some of his spiritual song lyrics with music to entertain the congregation.

I received an inheritance in 2019 and was able to provide Bruce with monthly sessions with a professional psychologist. Bruce developed a good rapport with her, and she helped him reconcile many of his horrific experiences.

Bruce continues to volunteer at the Gallery Gachet. On Fridays he fascilitates a Creative Writing Group which has proven to be a popular activity. The time frame for the gathering has been expanded from a one-hour time limit,  to one and a half hours.

In recent years Bruce has become dismayed by the plight of those living on the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. He has composed a selection of brilliant (from my point of view) poetry, entitled “Songs of the Streets.” The poems reflect upon a number of sorry situations he has observed on the streets of the downtown east side of Vancouver.

Bruce’s friend Sandra Yuen, well known artist, and former recipient of the Courage to Come Back Award, composed a very nice prologue for the book.

Jane Duval, well known mental health advocate and former Executive Director of The BC Schizophrenia Society, critiqued Bruce’s book. She composed the following review.

“Bruce Ray is a courageous and talented writer whose poetry depicts the hardship of urban life and the plight of the downtrodden on Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside. Songs of the Streets is based on Ray’s experience, emotion, and imagination. His use of direct language and sometimes dark imagery grabs the reader and doesn’t let go. As Sandra Yuen Mackay notes in her thoughtful forward, Ray’s words have multiple interpretations. Thus, some may take offense, while others rise to his call for protest and change. Guaranteed—no one will be unmoved.” – Jane Duval, Retired Executive Director, British Columbia Schizophrenia Society.

………….

The following is one of the poems from Bruce’s “Songs of the Streets”

The Poisoned Society.

This society has been poisoned by drugs and the

Corrupted essence of bad medicine.

It comes from outside and it’s sent into the

Community with willful damage and ruin.

The victims are caught in the sickness of addiction and despair.

Here on the Downtown East Side there are

So many stories but no one knows the

Secrets that live here. How a poisoned society

Is made of predators and dealers

Who feed off fear and misery. Higher up there

Are hands that send out the currency

Into these streets from the towers of glass.

There are shadows behind shadows

And stolen dreams. The seed of darkness flows

Into the waters and the young ones suffer

On these avenues. Every street corner is a grave stone

For the dead and the dying.

You sit on the bus as you pass by -seeing

All this squalor -windows reveal the scenes

Of desolation and you pity the suffering ones.

What you see is an illusion.

There is a community here -of brothers and sisters.

A proud people who struggle for justice.

If this society has been poisoned -then what can

We do but speak truth to lies?

Addendun:

Bruce’s newest book of poetry is to be entitled “The Incestuous Society”  The poetry is painful to read but from a mother’s (and fellow writer’s) point of view, is very well written.