Age: 42
From: Iraq

Jabbar left Iraq and traveled to Iran, then Turkey.  The Canadian Government sponsored him here thanks to a friend in Kitchener, Ontario.
He likes Vancouver even though he has no place to live and no family. He’s addicted to crack and sleeps in back alleys or stays with friends. He says he can’t stop doing drugs.  He once got busted for trafficking coke.
When asked about his broken nose, he said it happened when he got robbed. He used to work as a dishwasher, for 4 years, but is no longer employed. “How much I have, I smoke,” he said.

Joanne ‘Running Midnight Wolf”
Age: 34
From: Red Deer Alberta

Joanne is a First Nations person and has been living on the street for 6 years.
She has a 14 year old daughter who lives with her grandmother.
Joanne is engaged to Melvin ‘Raven’ and they are living together on the street where they protect each other.  They were clear that it is not safe for a person alone.  Joanne has a scar on her neck from an attack.
Her crack addiction is up to 5-6 grams twice a day.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“If you choose the streets then take it one step at a time rather than jumping into this lifestyle, so that you get to see what it’s really about, and how unsafe it is. If you end up on the street, keep your money in a safe place, and don’t trust anyone.”

Melvin "Raven"
Age: 45
From: Chilliwack

Melvin arrived in Vancouver 22 years ago, and has lived on the street on and off since he was 8 years old. He has a 23 year old daughter in Chase and hasn’t seen her in 4 years.
He is engaged to a woman named Joanne ‘Running Wolf.’ He says he uses drugs responsibly now because he has had 5 friends die in his arms from heroin overdoses.
Melvin uses 5-6 grams of crack daily, but is opposed to the use of crystal meth, which he says crystallizes in the stomach if you don’t blow it out quickly.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“This kind of life and freedom will really hurt you or kill you, and is not a wise choice at all.”

Age: 38
From: Quebec

Chantal has lived in a squat, lived outside, and inside the Empress.
She is a Christian, and has been using drugs since she was 12 years old.  She also started table dancing then. “My life is so shitty; I’m on methadone, although lots of people give me drugs. I’m a binner.”
She had planned to be a nun until she and her brother were raped by a priest, she said.
“One day my father would say I was a good girl, and the next day I was bad, then my brother committed suicide and my dad died.”
“Life on methadone is very hard; it’s easy to get food though. Drug treatment programs and the safe injection site create jobs for straight people. Safe injection is not a good idea.”
“Of course I’ll get off drugs, I’m finding myself, and I don’t want to do drugs. My feet come here, not my heart, I don’t want to be here, I’m working as an outreach worker. As far as young people go you have to accept them as they are.
“There is the Lord, the Lord is good, and the Lord is the provider. The key is accepting me as I am and knowing the Lord.”

Age: 36
From: Brockville, Ontario

James was a roofer but due to an accident 6 years ago, he lives on the street, and sleeps in parkades.
His dog Luka is 9, and James is trying to get $10.00 to develop a roll of photos of the dog, which has two different colored eyes, and is very protective of him. He found the dog beaten by the previous owner, and they’ve been together since.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Don’t do the streets.”

Age: 34
From: Vancouver

Lorie has been on the street for 7 years, due to drug addiction. Her parents both passed away, and she has 2 sons.
Lorie wants to tell people to open their eyes and not to be so judgmental. She would like to be off the street but has no idea of how to achieve that. There is no help for street people.  Shelters are full and there is no counseling anywhere.

Advise to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Take one day at a time and live life fully.”

Age: 31
From: Red Deer

Carla has been on the street for 8 years. She is an Okeene by blood but was adopted by a white family as an infant. Within the family, she says she was sexually abused by the father and the brother.
Carla has a few friends with accommodation but often she sleeps at the beach.  She has had good experiences with the police who check to be sure that the beach sleepers are alright.
At age 19 Carla learned that she could claim First Nations status.  She then left her home in Red Deer and moved to Vancouver. She panhandles at the corner of Burrard and Robson, and in the west end.
Her drug of choice is coke. A one time she had a 4 rock a day habit which cost her about $30.00 a day.  She has been on Methadone for 1 year.

Age: 56
From Cape Breton Island

Alan came to Vancouver two years ago, after living in Toronto.
He lives on a friend’s boat in the harbor, and most days he gets up at 5am and panhandles.
He has a medical condition that retains water in his hands and feet, some days he can’t walk very far, and some days not at all.
He worked for 39 years with race horses as a handler. He worked in Toronto, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida and Mexico.  He rode to exercise but was never a jockey.
After a day on the street he will get dinner at McDonald’s.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Go to work.”
“There are nice people in the world; you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

Age: 53
From: Greece

Chris recently moved to Vancouver from Montreal where he lived for many years. He used to work in restaurants in Montreal and thought it would be better here, so he hitchhiked across Canada, and now he is sleeping on the street. He doesn’t drink any more and hopes to get back to Montreal and find work again.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Don’t be living on the street, get a job and stay working.”

Age: 46
From: Alberta

Christina was once a receptionist at a drug and alcohol treatment center. She lives on the street, in rooms, and with friends.
Her drug of choice is heroin and said that she was feeling quite sick as were speaking. She is not long out of rehab, but looked tanned and quite scrubbed clean.
Christina is First Nations; she grew up on a reservation east of Edmonton. She has been on the street for 7 years and she says “the street is really hard now.”

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Don’t.”

Chris is 6 years on the street as a result of a divorce. At first he lived in his van but gradually lost everything.
He says you have to be creative to live on the street.  Some ways of making money are: selling bottles and cans, dealing, stealing, and selling cigarettes.
He says if he could stay clean there is a sizable trust fund available to him.
Chris would like to live somewhere where he could play golf every day. He says it’s bad on the street and someone was killed recently for $40.00 worth of Coke.
He says, “People ignore street people and that is what bothers him the most.”

Age: 35
From: East Vancouver

Christine is on social assistance, she calls herself a “recycler-crazy-artist” and can generate $45.00 per day recycling. She hunts for treasures and makes art
from found objects.  As well, she draws with ink, crayons and pencils.
She has a 9 year old daughter, but her ex keeps them apart.

Advice to young people thinking about a life on the street:

“Get a real job if possible, what I do is an honest job, I don’t sell drugs, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Never trust anyone on the streets.”

Duane has a real interest in Stephen Hawking and has dreams of being a screen writer. He spends some time every day working out at the weight room at Carnegy Center. He prides himself on living “below the line of poverty, but above the line of civility.” He eats well from the bins.
Duane is “born again” and gives much credit to organizations that help street people. He sleeps outdoors and reads for entertainment.
He became an addict early in life but says he is clean now. His drug of choice is heroin.
Duane was born in Saskatchewan, and has a grade 12 education.
He made it clear he was on the street by choice.

Duane’s Song
This here is Dewy deep sea dumpster diver.
Just to let you folks know……
Don’t recycle – throw those bottles in the bin
Me and the binners will get them
We are few… but we are mighty
But we sure aren’t the *z#% marines.

Age: 18
From: Edmonton

Katie hitchhiked here, leaving a slightly estranged family situation and a very emotional Born Again Christian mother.
Katie is Diabetic and gets food on the street, but not the insulin she needs regularly.
She uses insulin 3 times per day which costs about $40.00 per month, but there is the added cost of needles, and because she is “celiac,” (gluten intolerance), the food she must purchase is more expensive and she generally can’t eat the free food, given out at any of the shelters or kitchens.
She plans to go back to Edmonton after traveling the country. She doesn’t think society owes her anything, and that she chose her lifestyle for now.
She says that anybody can get off the street, even those doing heroin can get off it.
In 10 years she would like to live in the forest with a big well and a field of poppies (the opium kind), and pot plants, then she will write about life.

Ted had a mental breakdown 17 years ago and has a partial pension.
He plays percussion instruments on the street every day, and calls his music Prosperity on Water Jazz Machine.
He says he is not on any drugs at all; he lives in an apartment.  He is not a street person – he is an apartment person.
Ted says it is quite beautiful on the street, and he often meets people who are very kind. One woman gave him an omall cow bell which he now wears.
His food often comes from a place called the 44 club where hot meals are available.
His dream is to be part of the Jazz Festival.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Follow your taste buds and have adventures.”

Age: 70
From: Vancouver

Jack Manson is a pleasant 70-year-old man who occasionally sits with his cap out in front of the Starbucks in Kerrisdale on 41st Ave. We don’t have many street people in Kerrisdale, Jack occupies the space in front of Starbucks on a vaguely rotating basis with two other panhandlers. I have never seen more than one along 41st at a time.

Jack does not ask for money or approach passersby. Instead, he sets a small sign on the ground next to his cap that says he is 70 years old and having a hard time.

He was willing to talk to me and to be photographed, although he did ask that his picture not be put in the newspaper because his mom is still alive and he did not want her or his children to recognize him in a picture. He does not object to his picture being displayed in an art gallery or a book.

Jack says he has 10 children and 17 grandchildren, mostly on Vancouver Island. He used to work for Burrard Shipyards but was laid off a number years back. He was born at Vancouver General Hospital and was raised in Vancouver. He says his dad was Chief of the Vancouver Fire Department for 44 years. Jack was married twice at the same church.

Jack receives old age pension, so he only begs when he needs to. He used to live in a downtown hotel, but the $650 rent didn’t leave much money for anything else. That is when he turned to begging to supplement his income. Recently, his life has improved because he is now in subsidized B.C. Housing, so he doesn’t need as much extra as when he lived at the hotel. He said he had a hard time moving, because he has 5 big boxes, mostly filled with books.

He says he has spent lots of time in bars during his life, but he isn’t an alcoholic or a drug addict. He seemed bright and articulate.

We had fun meeting Jack. I was with my 13 year old daughter and her friend who had spent the day at a musical theatre program. Both girls have beautiful voices and big smiles and they started singing for Jack. While they were singing a few rounds of “Singing in the Rain”, lots of money was dropped in Jacks hat, including a $20 bill from one woman. The girls decided they would busk for street people more often—it cheered Jack up and resulted in lots of income for him. Jack said he would like to record the singing.

Age: 44
From: Alberta

Teresa has lived in Vancouver for 39 years; she has some family on the Island and in Vancouver, no children.
She uses methadone and coke, but has used 8 grams of heroin a day.
She was a sex trade worker and in 1990 said she made $385,000.00 in 9 months.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Don’t come down to work here, once you’re here it becomes the only way of life, once you’re out here you’ll die here.”

Age: 36
From: London, Ontario

From London Ontario and raised in Quebec.
Ken has lived all across Canada, and came to Vancouver 2 years ago during the “Woodward’s squat.”
He is a “binner” and due to an unpaid loan of $35.00 from a friend named “Dewy”, Ken takes over one of Dewy’s bins, and today got a huge load worth about $70.00.
He is now on his way to the Hastings Bottle depot to cash in.
Ken doesn’t do drugs, only pot and cigarettes, all of his clothes and shoes are from dumpsters.
He went to college and studied Business Management, and has 22 years work experience, but due to problems working with other people he chose to work for himself.
He doesn’t collect social services.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Stay in school, don’t come down here. Avoid drugs and social services, they will keep you down and never allow you to get a leg up.”

Age: 34
From: Toronto

Ken has lived in Vancouver for about 5 years, on and off the street.
He worked for about 5 years, and then he lost his apartment. He sleeps in parkades.
Money is harder to get in the winter but sometimes he gets work in construction in the summer months.
He has 2 dogs, a pit-bull named Gage and a Dalmatian crossed with a boxer, named Jersey Cow. When he does get some money he will get an apartment and let the dogs stay in during the day.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Go to school get a good education and stick to it. Stay off drugs.”

Age: 28
From: Winnipeg

Kenny has lived in Vancouver for 8 years; he collects money from people in cars at Terminal and Main Street. In between light changes he is very busy sweeping the curbs and gutters with a piece of cardboard.
He asked if he could keep working while I interviewed him, and said that he needed to work really hard, as he sweeps dirt and cigarette butts to the curb, and then makes a pile at the end of the median.
On a good day he will make $50.00 to $75.00, and will do drugs
“Like everybody else.”

Advise to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Listen to your parents and friends, be a leader not a follower, and don’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Vancouver needs more shelters.”

Age: 25
From: Prince George

Kerry started using heroin in Prince George, and the lure of cheaper and better drugs brought her to Vancouver.
She smokes rock and said that she would like to get treatment for addiction but is afraid of the repercussions. She says that the government treatment of methadone has far worse effects than heroin. Getting off methadone is 3 months of hell, and cold sweats. Methadone is simply an addictive regulated alternative to heroin.
Kerry has a 1 year old child that was taken from her because of her lifestyle.
A lot of her friends on the street are coming over to tell her how pretty she looks today.  She had put on make-up, even though her boyfriend objected to it. He didn’t want her to look pretty. She was sure she would be beaten up that night.

Advise to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“There’s no way out down here, if young people want to live their lives like worthless pieces of shit, then move down here.”

Age: 48
From: England

Linda lives at the Roosevelt Hotel, she moved to Vancouver from England when she was 12 years old. She hates the Roosevelt Hotel because if you have a visitor it will cost the visitor $20.00 to get inside the building.
Her drugs of choice are coke and rock. Detox doesn’t work because there is always a 3 week wait to get in, and then a lot of rules there as well.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Stay in school and learn a trade, I never did any drugs until I was 35 years old and working in a bar.  I got hooked right away.”

Age: 47
From: East Vancouver

Lori is a mother of 3 children who live in Chilliwack and Mission.  She sees them occasionally. Cocaine was her drug of choice, but she’s off drugs now. She lives and sleeps on the street. She can’t find financial help and her parents are elderly, so she doesn’t ask them to help.
Lori was hospitalized in 1996 with an abscess on her spine that required surgery. She was not expected to walk again, but did so in a year.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Stay off the street and don’t do drugs. Get a job, stay with it, and don’t let life get you down. Hold your head high, do what you have to do, as long as it’s legal.”

From: Salmon Arm

Melissa moved to Vancouver from Salmon Arm 7 years ago, after her baby died. She lost her welfare and resorted to living around, and earning a living in the sex trade.
Melissa says it’s extremely important to be a good scammer in her business, and to be very vigilant of her surroundings.
The sex trade was her way of supporting a cocaine and heroin addiction, earning $15.00 for a blow job and $45.00 for full sex.
“I wish I had never become involved in drugs, and could go back and relive my entire life in Salmon Arm; life on the streets is barely one step away from pigs living in shit.”

Age: 52
From: Trail

Mel Gibson is the name he calls himself; he lives in Port Alberni, and comes into Vancouver to make a little money.
Mel was orphaned at 3 years of age when his mom was run over by a car on the corner of Seymour and Dunsmuir streets. His dad was a drunk so he was put into foster care.
He spent grades 5-8 at Cliffside boarding school, on Vancouver Island; he also attended a Mennonite Bible School, where he broke the mile record at 15 years old in 4.20 minutes.
Mel remembers that he was never adopted, always ran away, and was always in trouble. He once went to a group home in Shaughnessy but got kicked out for not obeying the rules.
He did a lot of drugs in the 60s and 70s but doesn’t use them any more. He has lived all over North America, in Miami, Texas, L.A., Denver, and Arizona. He was married and had 2 kids, while he worked as a carpenter.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Just say no to drugs, it’s a very bad life.”

Age: 20
From: Hull Quebec

Phil is a drifter-traveler, and recently met up with Tim Knapp.  They know a lot of the same people from hopping trains.
He loves trains and likes the fact that train routes are different than highways. He rides in box cars or in a small space on a #48 car. They carry containers.
They get kicked off occasionally but usually they are accepted.
He plans to go back to Calgary and be with his girlfriend there and eventually be working and have a home.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“I wouldn’t discourage anyone, but really think about it.  As a bum you don’t always find work.”

Age: 43
From:  Saskatchewan

From Saskatchewan, has lived in B.C. since he was 13 years old.
Randy was married and has a son.
He has tried living an established lifestyle but things happen and he ends up back on the street.
He has been clean off heroin for 3 years.
The street is his home and the homeless are his family.  “We rely on and look out for each other.  If someone is missing from their usual spot, we look for them.  No one else cares.”

Advice to young people thinking about a life on the street:

“Get an education and don’t become a criminal.  It’s no picnic on the street.”

Words for the world:

“Panhandlers are not petty thieves and criminals as we are presumed to be. We are human beings, surviving on the streets the best we know how.”

Age: 40
From Saskatchewan

Richard has been on the street since he was 13 years old, in and out of group homes and Government Children’s Aid.  He says it really sucked.
Self employed as an Urban Ecologist, collecting scrap metal, cans and bottles. He gets meals from garbage bins and the doughnut hole, behind the doughnut shop.
“The free meals are only for the mentally ill and old people.”
Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:
“It’s scary out here, but you learn something new every day. I’d tell young people to go back home and stay in school.”

Age: 59
From: Thunder Bay

Bob has lived in Vancouver for 28 years now. He started out traveling all around the country, working along the way, but then stayed in Vancouver. He has lived in the Gastown area for about 20 years, and recently moved to The Grand Hotel on Hastings Street, near the old Woodward’s site.
Panhandling in front of the Royal Bank on Broadway, he makes about $25.00 per day. Sometimes people in the Bank give him food. He says panhandling is a nice way to spend the day.
Bob used to sell the Street newspaper. “It’s about people like me” he said, “people on drugs or alcohol.”
He’s had lots of girlfriends, but never married.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Try not to be on the street unless it’s absolutely impossible not to be. Young people are forced to live on the street because of drugs etc. They may be afraid to go home. If there is a chance to avoid breaking the law, take it. Say no to drugs and alcohol, it only takes once to try crack or heroin and that’s it, your hooked.”

Age: 20
From: Quesnel

Slinkey has been in and out of foster homes since she was 13, always running away, and finally leaving for good at 15.
She came to Vancouver she says, “It’s intoxicating here and it entraps you, you’ll always want to come back here.”
A typical day for Slinkey:
Gets woken up by the cops or the downtown administrators, and just as the latter walks by, Slinkey asks for a band aid, for the many insect bites on her arms. He gives her several, then asks her to move on (from the sidewalk in front of the Vogue Theater on Granville Street).  She replies that this is her spot and that she’s always there and that’s just the way it is.
She spends the day asking for spare change, to eat meals at McDonald’s.
The cop that comes on Sunday’s makes her move and tells her she makes the city look bad.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Stay at home and don’t trust anybody on the street, you can’t.”
She’d like to be acknowledged, along with other homeless people, when people walk by, a glance, a nod, or a smile, or even “fuck off,” would be better than to be completely ignored.

From:  Ontario

In 1999 Sundance moved to Vancouver because of trouble with the law in Ontario.
He did 2 years of college, majoring in Business, and he has a son living in Chicago.
Sundance was arrested and convicted of robbing a gas station for $2200.00. In prison he got addicted to heroin.
He still does heroin but would like to get straight, he wants to detox but not with methadone, as it’s harder to get off.
He doesn’t know what the future holds but he can’t count on being alive in a year.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“It’s not worth it to live a life addicted to drugs, the lure of short term fun suckers young people in, then steals everything from them.”

Age: 19
From: Edmonton

Susannah came to Vancouver 3 weeks ago to collect on an offer to have a free tattoo. Last year while visiting Vancouver she was thrown off the roof of Planet Rock, and they offered her a free tattoo.
Her drug of choice is alcohol.
She thinks that the resources in Vancouver are pretty good for homeless people, way better than in Edmonton. Food is available, and  leftovers are often given out. The shelter food is really bad, she says, and her friends believe that it is spiked with saltpeter to decrease sexual drive and keep people stupid and docile.
Susannah would eventually like to finish school and have a home.

Age: 41
From: Calgary

Tim has lived in Vancouver about 10 years, and has been a binner or trapper for 2 years. He finds bottles and cans and takes them to the recycle station at Hastings and Carol Street.
He has some family in Alberta but no children.
About 10 years ago he went cold turkey off alcohol and pot; he tried to go to school, but had a nervous breakdown and was in a mental institution for a number of years. He says the mental institution was O.K.  But he wishes things were different. He suffers insomnia and can’t keep a job because of anger control issues, which come from a lack of sleep.

Age: 39
From: Sunshine Coast

Thomas dropped out of school in grade 9 and has been on the street for about 20 years.
He had a house once and worked as a roofer, a logger, and a shake cutter.  Everything changed after a serious car accident, in which he broke both arms and both legs and was in a wheelchair for a year.
Tom gradually lost everything.  He says he needs medical help and can’t get it.  He has a fungus under his fingernails and the Doctor gave him penicillin, which he can’t take because he’s allergic to it.
He has filled out a lot of forms for disability and will find out soon if he qualifies for it, if so they will find him a place to live.

Thor is a busker, playing the keyboard on Granville Street. He lives in an apartment in Surrey, and commutes into Vancouver to play, and sell cassettes and CD’s of his original music. His ambition is to be in the Jazz Festival. He has had some media attention, and was written up in MacLean’s magazine. One woman likes his music and gives him up to $600.00 a year.
Thor loves working on the street and says he has no problems with other street people. He does not do drugs now, but can’t leave the country because of a previous drug charge.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Don’t start.”

Age: 28
From: Surrey

Born in Surrey and grew up in Santa Barbara, California.
He has been on and off the street for about 12 years.
Tim spends a lot of his life on trains, hopping them and traveling all over North America. He will often stay in a location for awhile, long enough to get a job and a place to stay.
Tim has a sister and parents in Washington State. The family is related to Art Knapp’s Garden Centers.

Advice to young people thinking of a life on the street:

“Go to school and find something you like to do, and learn a lot about it.” Also “don’t believe what you see on T.V or read in the paper, but learn to make your own judgments.”