By Thia James

Homeless and trying to get out of the cold in Prince Albert

Dec 12, 2013 | 5:50 AM

The sidewalk outside of YWCA’s Our House is surrounded by soft piles of snow. It’s the day after a night where temperatures fell to around minus 30.

A snow bank wouldn’t appear to be a place that would provide warmth. But for 44-year-old Jeremy, who sits on a two-seater couch in the facility’s lobby, he said the pile of snow he laid in last winter was warm. It was so warm that he fell asleep.

“Eighty per cent of my body was gone when they found me outside in the snow last year,” he said.

“Somebody found me. I don’t know how they found me – I was in the dark. And I woke up in the hospital and I said ‘what the hell am I doing here?’” He said he was hooked up to an IV.

It wasn’t the only time it happened. He said it’s happened three times in the past three years.

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Freezing to death at night in the winter months is part of the reality that faces many of Prince Albert’s homeless population who do sleep outdoors. To stay out of the cold, some turn to friends and family for a place to stay on a short-term basis, or access shelters and other forms of help.

But some do stay outdoors, and last winter the cold weather was deadly.

A little more than a year ago, last December, 49-year-old James Benjamin Roberts froze to death behind the Michaels store located at Cornerstone. Months later, in February, John Dorion, 62, and Doris Ahenakew, 46, were found dead by the railroad tracks near the 100 block of 15th Street East. They were all believed to be homeless.

Following the freezing deaths of Roberts, Dorion and Ahenakew, the city’s mayor, Greg Dionne, announced he planned to implement a new initiative called, ‘Lookout Prince Albert.’ It would aim to encourage citizens to call the police and seek help for those who are homeless and in distress.

Out of the cold

One of the places that the city’s homeless population have been able to turn to is Our House. Its manager, Edna Bruce, said their 30 beds have been full since the beginning of December. It is looking into the possibility of starting a program that will run in the winter months, adding capacity to Our House. 

Those who do stay at Our House pay $125 per month for food and laundry. Rent for the female clients is fully funded. For men, rent isn’t funded, but social welfare will cover the rent, according to Bruce. Our House has a supply of underwear in the office, as well as toques, scarves and mittens in boxes at the front door.
Bruce said they give out clothing every day.

Jeremy said he was kicked out of his home after his 14-year marriage broke up. He said he comes to Our House for “comfort.”

“That’s why I’m homeless. I’ve been staying here and there. Like my auntie’s place,” he said.

Sometimes, there hasn’t been anywhere for Jeremy to go because of his alcoholism, he said. After his near-freezing incident, when he left the hospital he had nowhere to go. He ended up wandering around. Right now, he won’t be staying at Our House. He still has nowhere to go and will be walking the streets.

When Our House closes for the night, he said he hopes his aunt will let him in to stay at her place.

Sitting nearby in the lobby of Our House was Jason, 26. Jason was originally from La Loche, moved to La Ronge, spent two years in the Canadian Armed Forces and now he is homeless. He said he is homeless due to his alcohol use.

During the summer months, he slept in a tent along the riverbank for two-and-a-half months. But then, it got too cold in October and he said he couldn’t do that anymore.

At that point, he started staying with a friend. ‘Couch surfing’ – sleeping on a friend’s couch – is one of the ways he’s been able to find shelter from the cold.

“I have to pay my rent with a bottle in order to sleep somewhere overnight,” he said.

Being homeless in Prince Albert means that he’s had to sleep outside, in custody or in detox. But there has been cases where people who have found him on the streets have paid for a hotel room for him to stay in.

“Or they brought me to their house, fed me, or they’ll give me money on the street, but of course, I’d use that for a bottle,” he said. Jason is looking to turn his life around in the new year, and possibly get a security job in the mines, like one he had before.

Russell, who is in his 40s, has been homeless for two years, and has been sober for one and a half years. But during the winter before last, he slept outdoors near the railroad tracks. He was one of number of people sleeping near the tracks.

“There used to be a big bush there. Well, they cut it down now because there was so many of us sleeping in that one area,” he said and called it a good place for people to go and sleep at night.

But he compared that situation to birds flying from one tree to another.

“Wherever there’s a place to be warm, like relatives, and cousins, friends, and whatnot, being here in Our House, you see it every day.”

At night, out in the cold, he said you have to wear a lot of clothing. He recounted how he and a friend survived sleeping in the cold.

“We took turns sleeping at night, so we wouldn’t freeze,” he said. If both of them ended up falling asleep they could have ended up freezing to death, he added.

“I’d fall asleep for maybe two, three hours, you know, and then he’d fall asleep, you know, just to make sure we’d stay alive a couple times.”

For some people, he said, the new year means they’ll try to get their lives back on track.

“That’s where I am right now, is I’m working on getting a place again.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames