By Spencer Sterritt

‘We’re human too’: P.A. homeless speak out

Jul 20, 2016 | 7:59 AM

Despite the strong social stigma against them, Prince Albert’s homeless population wants people to know they’re not just bodies scattered across park benches and alleys; they’re people too.

Shannon Jobb knows intimately what it’s like to be homeless.

She said she would wake up “ashamed and lost in life” when she was homeless, feelings she wants those who look down upon the homeless to recognize.

“Everyone’s fighting a battle every day, theirs just happens to be alcoholism or addictions,” she said. “We’re human beings too. It’s sad to just feel like a piece of s–t, to feel like you’re not worth nothing. But everyone has a story behind them.”

For two years, Jobb couch and bed-surfed from Saskatoon to P.A. and back again after alcohol destroyed her life.

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“I was living with basically whoever, hopping from guy to guy because I had no other choice,” she said, calling her former life “unmanageable.” She dropped out of a police prep course at SIAST and her relationship with her partner of 10 years collapsed due to her issues with alcohol.

Eventually her hangovers became so extreme they would leave her in the hospital and sometimes last all week.

“I would black out and wake up in strange towns, reserves, other cities with no recollections of how I got there,” she said. “I eventually started waking up with black eyes, I’d get beat up and not know who I was with or what happened.”

In the last few months, she’s gotten her feet underneath herself again. She’s stuck to a 12-step alcohol program, and though she said she feels emotionally drained and constantly tired, she no longer carries the fear or resentment which kept her sick for so long.

Some, like Terry Fontaine, found themselves homeless after a twist of fate.

The Fort McMurray wildfire in June of 2016 destroyed all of his possessions in the home he was renting, forcing him to take refuge with his father in Bear Creek, Sask. He said there was nothing there for him however, so he travelled to Prince Albert and fell in love with the city.

He said it’s hard living a simple life in transition, since he no longer has the house, vehicle and privacy he once had in Fort McMurray.

Currently Fontaine stays at the YWCA transition home, Our House and spends much of his time walking around the city and people-watching.

“I see a lot of people who are crying out but not knowing where they’re going. That’s the thing I feel sorry for,” he said.

According to a 2016 study of P.A.’s homeless population, most homeless people are much like Fontaine, who have a residence but no permanent address and spend much of their day on the move.

A 2015 survey estimated 273 homeless people called P.A. home, with 16 actually living on the streets.

ssterritt@panow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit