An Afternoon with Samuel
Sam says a prayer with a local priest
Sam is 58 years old, a smaller statured, outgoing man.
He grew up in a smaller city in Ontario.
Samuel reads the bible.
Many lessons through a rough life have taught him- you need to read, to help and always
keep your mind active! That’s how you beat dark thoughts and depression.
Sam finishes a beer while walking to a friends home.
I told Sam about my assignment and goals and he was rather willing to talk. So I joined him for the afternoon.
Sam is one of British Columbia’s over 8500 people who are currently experiencing homelessness.
Checking through garbage strung along the railroad tracks.
Sam has spent most of his life homeless or in prison, around 30 years in prison he states. Sam first went to prison when he was 16 years old for stealing a car and shortly after, he had his first child at 17. Sam now has 7 children, as he lost one of his daughters to suicide last year. His children don’t communicate with him much anymore.
Sam pours his beer into a thermos.
He has been charged with manslaughter twice he states. Once for the stabbing a father and his son attempting to rob him for his last $500. The father past away while his son survived with 5 stab wounds.
The other charge of manslaughter happened much earlier in his life and was a more sensitive topic. “They held a photo of my wife up in the courtroom and I needed to protect her,” he says while we walked along a busy road, the subject quickly switched.
“There needs to be a reason why I’m still out here, you don’t normally kill two people and walk on the streets again, God has a plan for me,” Samuel says as we walk.
People in a red car unroll windows to yell profanities, we continue talking “This is how people treat us, I know one man who was lit on fire,” Samuel says, as the red car drives further away and the sounds of hate dwindle back into traffic.
Sam smokes fentanyl through a piece of rubber tubing on tinfoil, photo: Seth Scott
Sam’s friend just woke up from sleeping, after being awake for 4 days.. After waiting a few minutes outside, I’m welcomed in. Quickly different drugs come out. Methamphetamine, Fentanyl, Crack and many prescription drugs began to be passed around.
Fentanyl is smoked
Narcan sits on the table ready to be used.
Sam’s friend tells me how he recently lost almost all of his toes a few months ago during one of the cold nights in wintertime. He had been living in a tent and fallen asleep, waking up to all of his toes being frostbitten. After having a majority of his toes amputated and luckily having family members to support him, Samuels friend is recovering and getting used to his new life, and healing up in a warm apartment.
Sam’s friend shows his foot, bandaged from recent surgery to remove his toes due to frostbite.
The kitchen fan is used to pull the bitter smell of the many different substances burning in the apartment, Samuels friend removes his socks to display his bandages. They are getting low on food, so Sam’s friend
prepares to go sit out front of a local grocery store and ask people for food.
“People have trouble saying no when they see that I lost my toes, I don’t mind using it to my advantage.”
A pipe is heated
The room bitter with smoke, I decide it is time to head home. I say goodbye.
Almost immediately I see Canadian flags waving in the cold, dark, and wet sky. I think of the faults in my nation. A nation people are so proud of but don’t want to know what lies behind a very thin veil.
Sam made me aware of deep rooted issues in my own community that I had no idea existed, like the recent shutdown of the only two warm up centres for homeless in the community, leaving anyone without a home out in the cold streets. I met nursing students, civilians, and community support workers actively trying to better their community.
Canadian flags wave in the rain
It took me 5 minutes to meet Samuel and his friends, I had not even finished locking my car and putting my camera straps over my head before I met Sam. With the housing crisis in British Columbia and the 1% rental vacancy rate in Courtenay, the $375 paid towards housing
monthly by the government per person seems insufficient. Some people may only have one or two warm sleeps a month, with many hotels refusing to even rent to homeless people. It leaves the question as what is the solution, should people be losing their toes and living in the streets in one of the wealthiest nations in the world? How can we expect people to get off the streets and get jobs when we don’t have homes for these people. We need more affordable housing.