Living with MCS: Renu Bakshi’s Journey from Struggle to Advocacy

In this powerful episode of Footprints & Impacts, we speak with Renu Bakshi, a former journalist and anchor, who now works as a media trainer and crisis manager, about her deeply personal experience with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). 

Renu shares the challenges of living with this often misunderstood and invisible disability, including stigma, lack of support and the struggles she’s faced both personally and professionally.

Despite these challenges, Renu has transformed her experience into advocacy, using her platform to raise awareness about MCS and fight for better understanding, accommodations, and support. From her work in human rights to the crucial role the media plays in elevating awareness, Renu offers valuable insights on how we can all be part of the change.

Tune in for an enlightening discussion on the intersection of environmental health, workplace inclusion, and the urgent need for greater empathy and understanding of MCS.

EHAC-ASEC : https://ehac-asec.ca/
ASEQ-EHAQ : https://aseq-ehaq.ca/en/
Renu Bakshi : https://renubakshi.com/

Transcript

welcome to Footprints and impacts the podcast where we uncover how the environment shapes our health and
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well-being whether you're curious about how chemicals in your surroundings affect you or you're looking for
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practical ways to live a healthier life you're in the right place brought to you by the Environmental Health Association
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of Canada and the Environmental Health Association of Quebec this podcast shines a light on multiple chemical
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sensitivity MCS the importance of healthy least toxic product choices and
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what what it means for those navigating this disability where over 1 million Canadians have a diagnosis of MCS we're
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here to raise awareness offer resources for accessibility prevention and build a
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healthier inclusive community let's dive in and explore how our Footprints leave
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a lasting impact on our health and our planet so hi everyone and welcome back
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to Footprints and impacts I'm your host Marco and today we have a truly powerful
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conversation ahead of us we're diving into the deeply personal and important topic of multiple chemical sensitivity
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MCS a condition that affects millions of Canadians and countless people around the world joining us today is ranu
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bakshi a former TV journalist a crisis communication expert and also an
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advocate for those with MCS renu's work has taken her across the globe helping
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organizations and leaders navigate the complexities of media and public opinion
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but her journey hasn't been without its struggles as someone living with MCS
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Renu has experienced first time the challenges that come with this often invisible disability from
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misunderstanding and stigma to a lack of support from institutions that should be protecting people like her today we'll
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Explore her personal experience with MCS the challenges she faced and advocacy
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work she's doing to raise awareness and fight for better understanding of this condition Renu thank you so much for
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being here today thank you for having me Marco it's always a pleasure so uh Renu
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you've you've had quite an extraordinary career but today we're diving into a deeply personal aspect of your life
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could you start by telling us about your experience with multiple chemical sensitivity and what that Journey has
2:22
been like for you when I was younger I nobody would have know uh what my condition was
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I would uh go to school elementary school we would play hockey at gym time and we would have those plastic hockey
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sticks and I couldn't hold them because my hands would swell up and get very itchy I used to think it was maybe
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because there was germs on the sticks so you know I would wash the stick I would wash my hands but it wouldn't alleviate
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uh those symptoms and so I had to sit out hockey class and as time went on I
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started to recognize that there were certain products that I was using that were making me sick uh I would wake up
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fine but then I would get ready for school and I was going to high school in the 80s when big hair was in style and
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so I would you know tease my hair and I would hairspray it like crazy and I would end up with a headache and just
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feeling unwell for the rest of the day and I managed to put two and two together that my hairspray was actually
3:23
making me sick as time progressed it occurred to me that it wasn't just hairspray it was anything with fragrance
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and harsh chemicals that was giving me these symptoms of being feeling impaired
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headaches uh nausea um shortness of breath coughing and um just
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feeling crappy and so that's when I understood that chemicals were making me sick but I
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didn't have a name for it back then yeah yeah and like like as you mentioned like
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MCS is often misunderstood even ridiculed could you share some of the
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most challenging experiences you faced in terms of the lack of awareness and
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support for people with MCS what's shocking to me is that in my
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experience it's the very agencies that are meant to protect us that were the ones that uh were the most um uh
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difficult to manage and deal with uh my condition they actually pushed back
4:26
opposed or created further challenges for me when I started working at CTV I
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mean you can imagine you know there's a lot of hairspray makeup and people would wear perfume and I didn't understand why
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because it's television not smell evision and um eventually I went to the
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Human Resources Director and I explained my condition again not having a name for
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it uh 20 years ago I didn't know there was a name for it and I explained my
4:53
condition and um she left it to me to speak with my colleagues individually to
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ask them to refrain from wearing such products around me or at least spraying hairspray in my vicinity and what that
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ended up doing was it ended up making me a Target of bullying and people stopped
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uh wanting to work with me so and an HR Director should have known better than to tell somebody to have these
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conversations uh it was her responsibility to manage what is uh
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disability in this country uh but she actually made me a Target and so that was very
5:31
upsetting uh a few years ago I had a leak in my unit from above a washing
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machine overflowed and I carry extra insurance because as people with multiple chemical
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sensitivity know we can't buy conventional Furniture we can't paint with conventional paint we can't um
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build we can't bring conventional drywall into our homes after we've suffered a a loss so I carry extra
5:59
insurance and when I called my insurance provider and explained to them that I have MCS first they claimed they'd never heard of such a condition and then they
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fired me as a client they fired me because they said they were not willing
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to accommodate my condition even though I had paid extra uh to carry this insurance and so when I said that it's a
6:19
recognized disability in Canada and they have a duty to accommodate they turned around and fired
6:25
me and that again is a is people people who are in housing who should have known
6:32
and should have accommodated me and didn't yeah I feel lucky though because
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I I'm a strong person and I have resources at my disposal and so with CTV
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I made decisions to leave my condition was part of the decision it wasn't all
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of the decision but it was part of my decision to leave a career at the Pinnacle of my
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career uh in terms of housing I left my previous condo because I was constantly
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inundated with drier smells coming from other units into uh my unit and I was
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lucky that I found a home where dryer vents out the back not the front and so it doesn't come into anybody's units so
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I'm lucky and I really feel for the people who aren't as lucky or as I am or don't have a platform like I do to stand
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up for myself yeah and I mean you spoken about
7:29
about MCS is a disability an invisible disability and how difficult it is for others to grasp uh the severity of it
7:37
unless they experience it firsthand what do you think the biggest misconception is about MCS that Jewish people
7:44
understood better the biggest problem with communicating MCS to people is the name
7:51
first of all the name actually is a barrier to people's understanding of this condition the word sensitivity in
7:58
multiple chemical sensitivity implies it's something subjective you know oh they're just sensitive people they're
8:05
being too sensitive and sensitive has a negative connotation in our society especially when it comes to women which
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is unfortunate there's a bias the name doesn't help uh secondly because it's an
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invisible disability it's very difficult to make it visible for people even though our symptoms can create you know
8:24
visible signs like you know somebody feeling impaired or having a headache or being dizzy
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uh but people brush that off and so the best way that I've learned to describe it so that we can create an what so that
8:37
an invisible disability can be seen as visible is uh what coal miners used to
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do back in the day Canary and a coal mine they would send canaries into mines
8:50
to test the air for toxicity and if the canaries died or became impaired the
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miners never went into the mine they knew that it was unsafe for them to go into the mind and mine and breathe that
9:03
air we are canaries and coal mines somebody like me can walk into a room and tell within seconds if this room is
9:11
toxic for human health I try to explain to people that if it's toxic for my
9:16
health it's also toxic for your health you don't have to have multiple chemical sensitivity for it to be toxic to human
9:23
health so you know these are the the problems it starts with the name I really wish can advocate for a better
9:30
name it's always had terrible names it started out with uh I think it was called environmental illness before um
9:37
and then sick building syndrome idiopathic environmental illness what
9:42
does that even mean and uh now multiple chemical sensitivity none of the names
9:48
have ever done this condition any favors I imagine that's where all the
9:54
stigma comes from and and the bullying and unfortunately there is a
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stigma around MCS that could lead to bullying or
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exclusion and um you know have you faced any bullying or discrimination due to
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your condition and how did that impact you personally I know you mentioned it uh CTV but if you could elaborate a
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little more on that for our listen yeah at CTV I definitely faced exclusion and bullying when people didn't want to work
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with me or they were Whispering uh behind my back uh when I was in the makeup room I was an anchor and you know
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there's this Unwritten rule that when you are in the makeup chair in the makeup room that's your time with the
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makeup artist that's your time to prepare yourself not just the makeup but for for the upcoming newscast and nobody
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enters the room at that time uh there was a a another um television
10:52
personality who came into the room while I was in there and deliberately sprayed
10:57
perfume in my vicinity and then said to me if you tell anybody it was me I'm
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going to know it's it was you and then she used uh a word that I won't use and
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I mean that was Ultimate bullying and my makeup artist was horrified as was I and my makeup artist said to me she said if
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you want to take this to Human Resources I will be your witness I will be there with you I will support you and I said I
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am not a fool I said I am the one that will be fired because that person is
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considered um the gold girl and I am not and so I said let's face it I'm going to
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be the one that's fired and so I never brought it Forward um fast forward a number of
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years and um one of the major um situations of discrimination that I
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faced was at the hands of um Canada Border service agencies and public
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health uh nurses who basically said that they had never heard of multiple
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chemical sensitivity I was asking for an accommodation and it wasn't a real stretch what I was asking for and um
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they claimed they'd never heard of this disability these are nurses who work at
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a health authority in British Columbia that has a policy of being fragrants and
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chemical free it's posted on the walls of the hallways these are nurses who
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claimed while discriminating against me and denying me accommodation that they had never heard of this condition I had
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a cbsa guard accuse me of falsifying medical records forging a doctor's note
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that said that I have a disability called multiple chemical sensitivity I mean again these are agencies that are
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there to protect us and they discriminated against me and so I have
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filed a a human rights claim against them a can at the Human Rights Commission and um I'm just waiting for
12:53
that to be Advanced to the next stage but that was I mean the the the treatment of me was egregious
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and if somebody like me was treated like that somebody who could articulate what the condition is somebody who brought
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medical evidence of the condition somebody who wasn't asking for anything that was out of this world in terms of
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accommodation I can't imagine what other people go through I
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mean it it sickens me it it breaks my heart yeah yeah a lot of people are are are
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alone and and and don't even know where to to begin you know and um it's it's I
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think it's it's uh commendable that you've turned your personal challenges into advocacy especially with your work
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and human rights and communicating the realities of of MCS of this disability
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um my turning my my multiple chemical sensitivity which is a dis
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disability my turning it into advocacy was because of your organization a few
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months ago I've been aligned with your organization for about a year and when I understood that there was a conference
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coming up and you guys requested that I speak I had to sit with it I'm not
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somebody who um is comfortable being a victim because I'm not a victim I am not
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comfortable talking about my personal struggles um because those are my business and I don't um I don't make
14:26
them anybody else's business unless I I need somebody to accomodate me and I don't really talk about it publicly I
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never have so the first time I spoke about it publicly was only a couple of months ago at the conference hosted by your organization and this will be the
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second time that I'm speaking about it publicly and I never wanted to be the poster child for this disability but I
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also have now come to understand that if I don't use my voice there are people who don't have a voice they absolutely
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have nobody they don't have a voice and nobody will listen to them so if I can raise awareness about the condition then
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I am happy to become that voice
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yeah yeah that's truly um truly remarkable and um could you tell us
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about the virtual human rights conference you spoke at for our organization and how those experiences
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with MCS have shaped your your further advocacy
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work the first time I spoke publicly about uh multiple chemical sensitivity
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and having this disability was at a human rights conference two months ago
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and I did not realize I mean I've spoken at hundreds of events through my lifetime as a public speaker I mean over
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35 years I can't even count the number of stages I've been on I did not realize how difficult it
15:53
was going to be for me to address this condition and speak about my personal experiences
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uh my voice started to shake the moment I was introduced and um I know that
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several times I fought back tears when I was speaking about uh my personal experiences but again see now my voice
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starts shaking again because I think what really uh pushed me to speak about
16:17
this is when I learned that people with my condition um are seeking medical
16:22
assistance in dying the maid program youth in Asia because they can't find
16:28
find appropriate housing because they can't find safe housing and safe
16:34
employment so they're choosing to die and that is why I chose to become an
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advocate and it is difficult for me to talk about that part of it um and uh I
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mean it's always going to be difficult to speak about it um you know depending on where and when and who the audience
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is it's always going to be challenging but I want to give it a voice I want to
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remove the stigma I want to make this invisible disability visible in how we
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communicate about it yeah well I know our our audience
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really appreciates what you're doing uh for them and as you mentioned a lot of them don't have a voice and
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having people like you come out and and shed light on it has really helped the
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awareness grow you know and we see it every month our our awareness grows more
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and more and more you know and uh I think people are starting to catch on
17:34
because it's um the numbers are are staggering right we're at over a million Canadians that are diagnosed and there's
17:41
the ones we don't know or don't know themselves and you know we we go on Forum sometimes and we do uh see that
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people are wondering what they have and they don't even know that this is uh
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that it's MCS you know you know the thing that drives me crazy though about the public
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even my own Circle my own network is oh but I'm only wearing a little bit of
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perfume mhm oh I'm just wearing a little bit like it shouldn't bother you I'm
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just wearing a little bit and I'm like okay first of all low exposure is enough
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to create symptoms second of all you the wearer of this perfume has have become
18:23
nose blind to it and so it's really unfair
18:29
for you to tell me how I feel rather you
18:35
should be more aware of the air we share
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and not impose it on me yeah yeah it's true it's um it's a long
18:50
road ahead but I think you know slowly but surely we'll
18:55
we'll get there I've noticed that more and more Health Facilities are starting to require sentree you know
19:02
like um Hospitals and Clinics you're absolutely right hospitals uh doctor's
19:08
offices even places of employment but again I go back to my experience with public health nurses working in British
19:14
Columbia at a health authority in hospitals in British Columbia under a policy of sentree
19:22
claiming they've never heard of it yeah that's um it's deliberate
19:29
ignorance people don't want to change their habits yeah intellectual laziness I like
19:35
to call it which is very very close it's the same same
19:41
idea you know and uh you know I know I know I have a question here about the
19:48
workplace and uh you know like people face challenges in the workplace but
19:53
they also face challenges in public spes with their families
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um you know there's there's an endless plator of places that people face
20:04
challenges that have MCS so they isolate themselves more and more and you know and um like from your experience what do
20:12
you need what do you think needs to change like in workplaces or even let's say public spaces or or at home like
20:19
what what could people do to help support
20:25
people the conversation around multiple chemical sensitivity needs to change
20:31
start with a name change make it visible Canary in a coal mine if I come into a
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room I will tell you immediately if the air is toxic and we need to start discussing multiple chemical
20:44
sensitivity as a climate issue this is about indoor climates and it doesn't
20:52
just impact indoor air quality it impacts the greater environment for for
20:59
example all of the chemicals in personal care and cleaning products end up in our
21:06
oceans okay your laundry detergent you know washing this stuff
21:11
off your body it all ends up in the waterways so that pollutes our oceans landfills all the containers that these
21:19
products are coming in are ending up at the landfill the outside air nasau is
21:25
studying emissions in space that are coming from of all things hairspray and
21:31
they have found hairspray emissions in space so we need to change how we
21:36
communicate about this disease the name and the story that makes it visible and
21:43
Shifting The Narrative to be about the climate and I think that will make a difference yeah definitely which which
21:51
brings me to to my next question which I think you mentioned even at the
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conference where stories need to be told awareness needs to be told you know and
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as a former journalist and now crisis communication expert you had a unique
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perspective on how the media covers health issues what role do you think the media plays in raising awareness about
22:15
conditions like MCS and how could it do it how can it do it better with the media if we flip the
22:23
script and talk about this being a climate issue
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I believe that they will start to pay attention because climate change climate
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pollution is one of the number one pressing issues of Our
22:41
Generation the problem is that scientists haven't attached to indoor air quality with outdoor air quality
22:47
even though indoor air quality is exponentially worse and more unsafe than
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outdoor air quality because of the things we do to ourselves with personal care products and cleaning products and
22:59
our built environments paint glues carpets you know fire retardants in
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furniture and so I think if it becomes a climate issue the media will slowly
23:13
start to pay more attention to that and you know um the message matters and
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that's my whole thing the message matters and we have to make it matter and how we do that is talking about it
23:25
being a climate issue yeah I mean I I could see that a lot of
23:30
the media is focused on climate and you know it's it's it's more
23:36
like macro climate and the whole world but I guess MCS would be to make it maybe a bit more microclimate like what
23:43
what's going on at home you know the impact of MCS or sorry let me rephrase that let me start that
23:50
again the impact of chemicals we use at home whether they're our personal care
23:55
products or our cleaning products is far more immediate and long-term on
24:03
human health than what's happening outside what we do in our homes is more
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immediate in terms of the impact on waterways it's more immediate in terms of the impact on air it's more immediate
24:18
in terms of the impact on human health like you said we talk macro
24:24
climate change the climate is changing it's bad for the planet but but the more
24:29
immediate bad for the planet is something we are doing every day uh uh without thinking you know
24:37
without thinking and so again it's just changing that script and starting to
24:43
make people care more I think the Nassau study is a huge start towards that
24:48
conversation for Nassau to find hairspray emissions in space is remarkable I mean I I I can't even
24:56
fathom that and I think starting to include that in the conversation with these credible organizations like NASA
25:05
is going to start to change the script on this on this condition on this
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disability yeah for sure I mean this definitely covers even my next question
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which is about highlighting how chemicals and everyday products affect pollution and human health and and also
25:24
the environment and um uh even like you know uh black
25:30
plastic right like this is a center stage right now we have so much black
25:36
plastic in our lives and I mean there's literally gasoline there's fuel in each
25:42
one of these products and people are cooking with them people are storing their food in them combing their hair with it um I mean the list is is endless
25:51
you know yes I you know it's it surprises me people who believe that
25:57
they are healthy and especially in British Columbia we we purport to be a very healthy Province
26:03
you know we have the Great Outdoors Etc you know we have Lululemon founded here
26:09
and so a lot of people are on a health kick but they don't see what they're
26:14
bringing into their homes the things that are leeching into their food they they don't really consider that people
26:21
look to convenience more than they do to health yeah and you know who wins but
26:27
these big companies you know these uh these manufacturers and these companies that are pedaling these products that
26:34
are designed to make our lives easier and everybody's always looking for the hack you know how can I make this easy
26:39
for me and it's just it's killing us it's killing humans it's killing animals it's killing the
26:45
planet yeah yeah I couldn't have said it uh
26:52
better yeah it's it's it's I mean you know even 15 years ago you know I I I've
26:57
mentioned mentioned this in other episodes as well like peanut allergies right um now
27:05
it's it's very well regulated kids can't bring peanuts to school uh but when I was in school 15 20
27:14
years ago in elementary school no one was told not to bring peanut butter to school and if someone would tell parents
27:22
you know peanuts aren't allowed anymore they would think everybody was off The Rocker you know so and it's
27:29
and these allergies and these sensitivities are directly related to the environment and where these
27:36
ingredients come from and how that's changed I mean I know it's a whole can
27:43
of worms to to go down that that that path but you know so many Studies have
27:48
been done lately that our immune systems are reacting to things because for the
27:54
last 8 nine 10 centuries our body we're never exposed to these things so we're
28:00
not used to these chemicals you know but we're not meant to be we're not meant to be exposed to chemicals yeah the problem
28:07
is you know there's more and more people experiencing allergies or um conditions
28:15
like multiple chemical sensitivity uh which is not a true allergy um because it's not a histamine
28:21
response uh but debilitating nonetheless the problem is that more and
28:27
more people are experiencing these issues because there are so many more
28:33
chemicals in our food and in the products we use and in our built
28:40
environments and we are not equipped our human body is not equipped to manage all
28:48
these chemicals and so we have become we're overflowing with chemicals and
28:54
what happens what happens when you pour water into a cup and it gets full but
28:59
you don't stop pouring it overflows and that is what's happening to the world
29:04
right now I know so many people now who have become sensitive to chemicals not
29:10
to the extent perhaps that some of us are but uh they'll say you know there's certain perfumes now that give me a
29:16
headache or I can no longer walk into Sephora I get a headache or you know
29:22
there's a certain air freshener that really bothers me but it never used to bother me that's because your system is
29:28
chemically overloaded and the cup is full it's
29:33
overflowing it has nowhere to go and that's why we are in this
29:39
epidemic now it's an emergency it's a crisis it's a human Health crisis it's an
29:45
environmental crisis we need to flip the script on it so people listen and change their
29:53
behavior yeah definitely I mean you know certain products s could um could make
30:00
you react like from you know half a block away for how strong they are you
30:06
know and uh you know like you could tell that a lot of people are starting to
30:12
pick up on it you know like it's uh it used to be like just very few but like
30:18
there's some cleaning products out there that are horrendous you know they're they're so strong and if it's making
30:24
your eyes water uh from half a room away then you know if it's doing that to one person it
30:31
must be doing something else even if you're not reacting to it you know yeah exactly and it's it I I've said this so
30:38
often to people just because you're not reacting to it doesn't mean other people aren't it is so unfair to suggest that
30:45
because you're not reacting it should be fine yeah you know this is like a daily challenge I mean I've been very lucky uh
30:53
I once I found my voice I was able to speak with my friends and family about
30:59
this condition and some of my family members my sisters do have um some
31:05
sensitivities as well and so we as a family are fragrance and chemical free
31:11
um my friends that I I I see um they know not to be fragranced
31:19
around me they understand the condition and so they're very respectful my clients are extremely respectful if I am
31:27
if I'm going into the office they know to be fragrance-free and um a lot of
31:32
offices now are uh fragrance-free and so they know to be fragrance-free
31:38
or um and rather they we can sit in a room where a window can be opened so I'm
31:44
fortunate that I have um around me people who absolutely respect and
31:50
understand the condition and will accommodate and go out of their way like really to accommodate make sure that I
31:55
feel okay um and then the that don't well guess what they're not in my circle anymore
32:02
yeah yeah yeah I mean that's uh that's that's those are the challenges right
32:08
like so but you're right it's uh like I've I've had friends that you know ask
32:16
me and know the work that I'm doing and you know um and they you know maybe like
32:22
a year ago was like okay you know like what you know and then they're like you know every every couple of weeks it's
32:27
like hey you know I noticed I went to to this place or that place and they're starting to say hey no no fragrances or
32:35
you know oh I hey they just passed this new policy where I work and they sent an email to everybody starting on Monday
32:41
you're not allowed to wear fragrances at work anymore and it's slowly you know uh
32:46
you know not not to drop names but some of the major banks in Canada are starting to adopt um the policy even
32:55
even our major airlines are starting to to look into it for their employes for
33:00
for travel you know speaking of Airlines speaking of Airlines I travel quite a bit I have to
33:08
say I've been wearing double masks on flights since 2011 because I find um
33:15
airplane Air to be toxic not only are we exposed to jet fuel which is super
33:22
strong and nauseating we are exposed to the cleaning products that became a lot worse through covid a lot of bleaches
33:29
we're exposed to air fresheners that are running through airplane bathrooms Non-Stop and then of course we're
33:35
exposed to the passengers uh their their detergents their deodorants their
33:40
lotions their soaps their perfumes and colognes their hairs sprays other hair products I mean it's endless so if
33:47
Airlines were to make the move to cut any fragrance they use and they and
33:53
frankly flight attendants are heavily scented can be heavily scented so if they move towards a fragrance free
33:59
policy for staff and then a fragrance-free chemical free policy for cleaning um uh that would go a long way
34:08
towards eliminating some of the toxicity in the air anytime you exit an aircraft
34:13
just smell your hair and smell your clothes it's all on you because these products emit phalates that float in the
34:20
air and land on you literally things are in the air flying invisible things that are landing on you that's why you smell
34:26
like the environment you were just in any airline that goes in that direction will win a passenger for life in
34:33
me perfect and despite the many
34:38
challenges you've faced with MCS you continue to advocate for Change and uh
34:44
raise your voice what keeps you motivated and hopeful in this fight for better recognition and accommodation for
34:51
people with MCS I'm motivated to
34:58
continue advocating for multiple chemical sensitivity and making people
35:03
recognize it's a disability because we are seeing a push uh at
35:09
workplaces um and in government to go fragrance free and so the education is
35:16
starting and it's starting to take hold and um
35:21
unfortunately as people who are not um
35:26
suffering from the condition but do suffer symptoms from certain chemicals
35:31
uh unfortunately as that population grows the conversation will grow and we
35:38
will start moving towards a safer um scent-free chemical free world uh for
35:43
everybody and people will start to understand uh that no sense makes
35:49
sense and that they need to be more aware of the air that we share and these
35:56
are the types of uh catchphrases if you will that will start to stay in people's minds and that will start allowing that
36:03
conversation to be um remembered and to uh move the needle
36:10
forward yes yeah I totally agree so uh Renu thank you so much for
36:16
sharing your insights today this conversation has been really valuable for our community our
36:22
listeners uh before we wrap up is there anything else you'd like to share with
36:27
our listeners I want to thank uh your organization for leading in this fight
36:35
and it still is a fight I also want to address other people with this condition
36:41
I um I want you to know that you're not alone uh there are people working uh to
36:48
advocate for your safety uh I am starting to use my voice and I hope that I can advocate for your
36:55
safety part of the reason that pursued a human rights case is for this very
37:01
reason I wanted to raise awareness about what happened and at the at the hands of
37:06
public health workers I think that once the Human Rights Commission advances my
37:14
complaint um it's going to be a good platform for me to start to raise more awareness and because these are
37:21
National agencies government agencies I believe there will be attention paid to
37:26
this complaint and that will start to a conversation an important conversation I want to
37:33
discourage anybody who is thinking about uh this is this is really hard for me
37:40
but anybody who's thinking about dying because you can't find safe
37:49
housing I want you not to think about that I want you not to go down that
37:55
road you have to find an advocate in this organization um and you just you can't
38:03
contemplate that because the world needs you it is not your time I mean that's
38:09
not the reason to go is my point because there are accommodations available and
38:15
there will be more and more accommodations available as time goes on so just don't make that decision uh that
38:22
again that's why I decided to start speaking about this publicly
38:31
um it's just difficult knowing that people choose that path and um they
38:37
don't have to so anyway that's all I have to say um just
38:43
hang in there yeah yeah Renu thank you so much
38:50
for sharing your your journey your advocacy work and your your insights with us today you've certainly open our
38:58
eyes to the realities of uh MCS and the urgent need for for better understanding
39:04
for support and action uh we wish you all the best in
39:10
your ongoing efforts to raise awareness and make a real impact and uh being uh
39:16
being on our journey as well uh to our listeners we hope you've gained this
39:22
incredible valuable perspective from today's conversation uh
39:28
and be sure to check out the resources Renu mentioned and check us out and and
39:33
let's continue working together to create a world where everyone is understood and
39:39
supported um on my behalf I'll thank you all for tuning in to Footprints and and
39:45
impacts until next time stay informed and take care is there anything else you want to add Renu that's it thank you thank you thank
39:53
you so much thank you thanks for tuning in to this episode of footprints and impacts if you found value in today's
40:00
conversation be sure to subscribe leave a comment and share it with friends family and especially someone who might
40:07
benefit don't forget to follow our upcoming episodes for more insights on sustainability Health inclusion and how
40:14
we can all make a positive environmental impact until next time stay curious take
40:19
care of yourself and be
40:25
well this podcast is part of the empowering community and removal of barriers project funded in part by the
40:32
government of Canada's Social Development Partnerships program disability component



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