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The story behind the people Blogger hopes book will remove stigma of Yellowknife homelessness
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, August 21, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
When homeless man Walter Edgi was found dead on the Frame Lake Trail a few weeks ago, many residents could recall the man and his daily pilgrimages with bags of beverage containers to the bottle recycling depot, but few know the story behind the man.
Photographer Kyle Thomas has begun working on a book documenting the lives of homeless people living in Yellowknife. Thomas hopes the project will help tell the stories of people who are all too often viewed merely as a social problem. - Cody Punter/NNSL photo |
That is something that photographer and blogger Kyle Thomas is hoping to change.
Thomas has begun work on a book documenting the lives of homeless people in Yellowknife, many of whom residents recognize but are only part of the backdrop of our daily routines.
"I basically want to share some of the stories of who these people are. They're people and they're caring and they are just trying to make their way in the world like everyone else," said Thomas.
The book will contain a series of photographs and interviews, which Thomas expects to be completed by March of next year.
By telling the stories of individual homeless people, Thomas hopes to debunk some of the stigma associated with them.
"What I realized is that they were being grouped into a very large group of people who are causing problems," said Thomas.
"What I see are individuals. Each one of them has a different story."
Thomas, who grew up serving Sunday dinners at the Salvation Army, has already interviewed three people for the book, including Edgi. While he is trying to use the project to highlight the common ground all people share, he admits not everyone's story is compelling.
"Some of them are not good, some of them are violent, some of them have done things in the past that you probably don't want your kids around. But then there's the flip side, like Walter, where they just got on the wrong track somewhere and just couldn't get off," he said.
Thomas said he was particularly surprised by the enthusiasm of a Montrealer named "Riel", whom he interviewed a few weeks ago.
"I couldn't believe how ambitious he still was. Being homeless to him wasn't an issue it was just the way life was."
In fact, after their interview, Thomas was on his way to lunch with Riel when a truck pulled up beside them and offered him some work. Without hesitation, Riel, who works as a painter, excused himself and went to do a job.
"He jumped up, said 'thank you, but I got to go, there's a job I need to do,'" said Thomas.
"He was still looking for the next job," he said.
Since beginning work on the book, Thomas has approached Lydia Bardak, director of the John Howard Society, which runs the downtown day shelter. Bardak has given Thomas her support and has invited him to come and speak with people at the shelter.
"Often times we see or we hear the loud, sometimes rude and crude behaviour downtown without knowing what's behind it or who the person is when they're not under the influence of substances," said Bardak.
"(His book) would document that this person has a family, that they had dreams and goals and aspirations, not unlike any of us, but because of the trauma they have lived through or the disability they live with, things just don't stay on track," added Bardak.
According to Bardak, many people living on the streets cut ties with their families and communities. As a result many of them don't have anyone to turn to for support.
She added that many communities outside of Yellowknife lack the facilities and infrastructure to deal with issues such as mental illness and addiction.
"That's why there are so many homeless people here who are not from Yellowknife," said Bardak.
She pointed out that because Yellowknife has such a small downtown area the homeless population is much more visible than it is in larger cities like Edmonton or Toronto.
With the amount of substance abuse going on among Yellowknife's homeless population, Bardak said she understands why people feel intimidated by some of the things they see on the streets.
While she does not suggest people should run around the city trying to break up fights, she says simply taking the time to talk to people in the streets can have a huge impact.
When asked what the public could do to make a difference, Thomas's advice was similar to Bardak's.
"The simplest way is to learn their names. To them that just brightens their day tenfold, because all of a sudden you know who they are," said Thomas.
"It's about the willingness of actually wanting to get to know them rather than seeing them as a problem."
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