By Jasmine Majoros
Photos Credits: Dustin Dick
The road to recovery isn’t an easy one. Each road is unique to the individual, and just like grief, everyone takes it differently. This holds especially true for Dustin Dick, whose story began at the age of fourteen when he had his first drink—a habit that eventually carried into his adult years. His recovery also started on a day just like any persons: contemplating whether to seek treatment or not. For the most part, it was “wake up from a blackout and do it all over again,” as he summarizes it. But on this day, he ran into a friend who helped him realize he had a choice to make. By doing so, this friend took him to different skate parks in hopes it would influence his decision to seek treatment.
“Being alone with your thoughts is actually a scary thing. I used my addiction for everything. When I was down and out, I used it. I was depressed; I used it. If I was happy and needed to celebrate, I used it. Alcohol was always there. But in my first year in recovery, I was introduced to all these programs that Siksika has to offer.”
As Dustin reflects on his first year of recovery, he describes it as “hitting a wall,” meaning he didn’t know which direction to take—whether to stay where he was and wait to “fall off” or move forward. He then stumbled across the Recovery Capital Summit in Calgary, which became the most influential turning point in his journey. Although it was tough figuring out how he was going to get there, being someone with very little means, he managed to make it. Arriving at the event with no idea what to expect, to his surprise, the summit became the building blocks of his recovery journey.
He was so moved by hearing everyone’s stories of addiction and recovery that he realized recovery isn’t done only one way. Seeing everyone come together showed him that it was also about community support. This event left such a profound imprint on his journey that he was eager to take this knowledge with him. He left with one question: how was he going to take this back to the place where his addictions had started? With a bit of soul-searching, he reconnected with his family and Blackfoot roots, which was something he never considered while in his addiction. Shortly thereafter, the slogan “One goal, many journeys” for Red Road Reclamation was born.
“As nomadic Blackfoots, we moved as a clan. We followed the buffalo; we followed the seasons. Nobody was left behind. That is the kind of mentality that I wanted to bring today, because addiction is a community problem. I feel like we need to come up with a community solution, which is helping each other. You don’t need to be in active addiction to be affected by it, and that one-size-fits-all approach with addiction just does not work,” Dustin explains.
Since then, he has remained focused on community engagement, having hosted a few events such as ‘Finding Your Path to Recovery’ on May 25th, 2024, and ‘Steps Towards Healing’ on November 25th, 2024. Most recently, he held his first relay run on May 16th, 2025. The run began at 8 a.m. on the 901-highway heading west as the starting point, finishing at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park.
With the help of contributing outlets, he wants to acknowledge and thank those who stood beside him through his events—especially Yolanda Big Old Man, Buck Breaker, and Camille Big Old Man. Dustin continues to bring inspiration to Siksika and beyond, to other surrounding communities, through his story, his dedication to his people, and lastly, his journey. With all this support and personal effort, he has remained sober since October 10th, 2021.
