Cory Whitecap

My name is Cory and I’m a recovering addict. On August 29, 2006 I walked into my recovery and I have been working on it since. I am a Sixties Scoop survivor, and both my parents were residential school survivors. Because there were no services available to Native people back then, they both turned to addiction to cope with their experiences, and I was lost to the system when I was 6 months old. I spent nearly 16 years being abused in the foster system, and at 16 I was chased to the streets at knife point. I spent the next 14 years living on and off the streets, and 26 years in active addiction which I was forced into at knife point when I was 8 years old.

Being a functional addict, I continued to work and train. I worked and volunteered in non-profit, worked in warehouse and trades, and trained in multiple fields by utilizing contract employment services. I dealt with a lot of loss along the way, but I kept moving forward. In 2015 I suffered a back injury that ended my trades career, and I spent until 2016 rehabilitating my back while living homeless in Calgary. I applied to all the post-secondary schools because I promised my children I would go back to school with them to keep learning. I told my kids “A promise is a promise, and you don’t break a promise.” They were 5 and 7 at the time.

I kept my promise and convocated on November 10, 2022. After all the personal challenges I faced to get my degree, I am using my education to create a recovery program. My favorite quote for my recovery is “I embrace solutions, not excuses!” John Taffer, Bar Rescue (ironically).