Year in review: James Hopkin recalls pandemic-plagued year of 2020

Happy lockdown, Sault Ste. Marie! 

So yeah, can I be candid for a moment? This year really sucked, and we all know it. I got some crazy COVID fatigue. 

Honestly, I just want to watch the first Die Hard movie (I'll also allow Die Hard 2, for whatever it's worth), eat some more bad food over what's left of the holiday season, and forget this whole pandemic thing.  

But the COVID-19 pandemic was the main event for 2020, am I right? Let's not forget that it also exacerbated other issues currently plaguing our community – like the opioid crisis, or the rise in break-and-enters. 

It exposed cracks in our systems, our institutions. It also made for a couple of controversial stories on SooToday.   

Here's a smattering of stories that I managed to crank out in this most filthy, wretched year of pandemic and pestilence: 

National 'church service event' brings nearly 300 people to Sault hotel during COVID-19

Oh boy, you all know this story. I don't even need to introduce it, really. I just found this story particularly interesting in that it addressed the pretty obvious gap between the public health advice of the day and what the province allowed at the time. Just don't call whatever this was a conference, alright? It was a church service event.

Church group event at Sault hotel raising questions about COVID-19 guidelines 

Local bar draws heat for calling COVID-19 pandemic a 'lie'

This one also does not require an introduction. Wow. I mean, this story really set off a lot of people. I do all the stories that my fellow SooToday reporters are too afraid to touch, for the record. I usually take that action.  

APH, Sault Police visit local bar after Facebook post calls COVID-19 pandemic a 'lie'

Break-in numbers soar during pandemic

This is just one of a handful of similar stories that I gleaned from (virtually) attending the police services board meetings in 2020. This story followed a report by Sault Ste. Marie Police Service which suggested that more people with multiple charges are being released due to the implementation of Bill C-75.  

Property crime on the rise in the Sault

Sault doctor forms addictions group after encounter with slumbering intruder

Dr. Paul Hergott presented SooToday with quite a story about seeing addictions and mental health issues up close and personal - uninvited and unexpected, mind you - in his own home. 

Since that story took off, the local doctor has formed Citizens Helping Addicts and Alcoholics Get Treatment (CHAAT) with a number of community stakeholders and members of the public who want to find answers to the worsening opioid crisis in Sault Ste. Marie. 

Slumbering intruder was catalyst for doctor's push to fix Sault's addiction issue  

Residential school documentary filmed in Batchewana First Nation territory during COVID-19

This one was somewhat personal for me - my grandparents on my Anishinaabe side both went to residential school. I wasn't allowed to ask them about it growing up. It was a traumatic experience for them, from what I've gathered over the years. I believe these stories are important, because without truth, there can be no reconciliation. Many Canadians still do not want to hear those particular truths, sadly.  

Batchewana residential school survivor subject of new CBC doc