06mobile) HOMELESS AND POOR: A CAPE BRETON WORKER IN BC

06mobile)

HOMELESS AND POOR: A CAPE BRETON WORKER IN BC

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

"Hello, sir, can I ask if you know the city very well?"

     I looked up from lunch with my son, in the Wendy's restaurant by Boundary and Grandview in Vancouver. Beside our table was a man about sixty, wearing a white cowboy hat, face creased and tanned from a life of outdoor labour. He could easily have been from the countryside in Alberta where I grew up.

     As it turned out, Leonard was from Cape Breton, but he's been working in coal mines in western Canada for a number of years. His situation is all too frequent these days. Homeless and unemployed, he's fighting to get his life back, with no help from uncaring right-wing governments.

     Leonard sat down and pulled out some papers filled with neat handwriting. "I need to go to this address," he said, pointing to "100 Avenue and 170 Street," out in Surrey. After that, he had to get to Annacis Island, an industrial/warehouse island in the Fraser River, arriving by two o'clock. His story was a bit complicated, but it boiled down to this: he had to find his work tools at the first address, and get to the second location where somebody had promised him a lift to Edmonton, on his way to a job in northern Alberta. His question was simple: could I give him directions to walk to his destination, since he had no money and no luck hitch-hiking.

     I looked at my watch. It was already noon, and the total distance facing Leonard was at least 40 kilometers. Walking was out of the question. He needed a vehicle to make this trip, but I had to be back at work in the opposite direction by one pm.

     As I explained the problem, Leonard realized his position was futile. Unfamiliar with Vancouver, he had started walking at six in the morning from his tent over on the North Shore, and now he had just two hours left to find his equipment and catch his ride. I could give him a lift to the nearest Skytrain station, which would take him within a few kilometers of the first address, but it would still be nearly impossible to complete his journey on time. All he could do was try, so we jumped into my car while he told me more.

     How did my new acquaintance get into this mess?

     Leonard's most recent job was in Sparwood, BC, where he suffered a heart attack a few months ago. He was sent to a hospital in North Vancouver, but after recovering sufficiently to be discharged, he had no money and no job, just some personal belongings. A resourceful person, he managed to obtain a tent and pitch it near the hospital, suffering through several cold and hungry nights while he tried to contact friends about work. An employer in High Level, near the Alberta-NWT border, promised him a job and even offered to repay him for meals along the way, but not bus fare.

     Overcoming his pride, Leonard found a provincial social assistance office to seek help. All he needed, he told us, was a couple of hundred dollars to get to Alberta. Instead, he got a pittance and a bureaucratic line about the waiting period.

     "That doesn't make any sense," Leonard said. "There's thousands of us homeless people here. Why wouldn't the government spend $200 so that I can take care of myself and get out of that tent?"

     I suspected that Leonard knew perfectly well that the Campbell Liberals care nothing about people living on the street. During eight years in office, this government has seen homelessness skyrocket while it kicked thousands off social assistance and cut the minimum wage to six bucks an hour. Larger numbers of unemployed mean cheaper labour and higher profits for BC employers. Hearing my explanation, he simply nodded.

     Arriving at the Skytrain station, I gave Leonard some money and showed him the regional map. It was a longshot, but maybe his ride would wait past two o'clock. Or maybe not. If luck wasn't with him, he'd be stuck in Vancouver, just another statistic. After a lifetime of hard work, Leonard could soon end up with nothing.

     On May 12, British Columbians have the opportunity to put the right people in the unemployment line for a change. Defeated Liberal MLAs won't go hungry, of course, and none of them will have to sleep in a tent. But if we drive them out of office, at least they won't be in charge of making the poor even poorer.