A phone call from a concerned citizen was the first we heard of Josh Rogers and his dog Turbo.
Carrie Harlow-edey said she knows Rogers from when they both lived in Likely, and she said he was a person who got along with everyone.
Harlow-edey said she takes food and clothes to help Rogers out sometimes and she was told Rogers was being evicted from the Hamilton Hotel.
Rogers has been living at the hotel for nearly a year, which opened as a low-barrier shelter in December 2021.
With dropping temperatures and limited options for Rogers, Harlow-edey wondered where he and Turbo would go.
“I just care about these people,” she said. Hamilton Hotel is the only facility in the community he is able to stay with Turbo.
On her urging, we sought out Rogers, hoping to learn more about his situation.
After locating Rogers, he introduced his dog Turbo and agreed to talk and share some of his story.
Rogers said he originally came to the Cariboo because of family, but he had been back and forth to the area a ton because he worked hauling livestock and things out of the evacuation zones during the 2017 wildfires.
A survivor of five different vehicle crashes, the first crash broke every bone in his face, recalled Rogers, who looks younger than his 30 years, despite it all.
The last crash was the one which he said led to his dependency on drugs.
“I woke up in the hospital with burn marks from the defibrillator,” he recalled.
Distraught, having lost his phone and unable to contact anyone, he had chickens, dogs and a horse at home, he said and he worried no one was going to be looking after them. Rogers left the hospital in Prince George to return home to Vanderhoof without the doctor’s okay, and said he was denied painkillers. He had broken his back in the crash.
His friend brought him fentanyl to help him with the pain.
He has relied on some combination of drugs ever since, he said, noting he usually takes a mix of meth, a powerful stimulant, and fentanyl, a powerful “down” drug which causes drowsiness.
“It takes the pain away from my back and keeps me awake for the day,” he explained.
In 2019, after breaking up with his partner, he said he couldn’t afford the place they had been living in and he moved to Likely in order to help his grandmother and live in a cabin on her property.
After a stay in hospital, he returned to Likely to find the cabin had burned down and all his belongings had been destroyed. He was told it was caused by a lightning strike in the area which ignited some forest.
For nearly a year now, Rogers has been living at the Hamilton. He said he is trying to collect basic belongings again, which makes him reluctant to use emergency shelter beds, as he worries his things would be stolen.
It was his reluctance to part with some of his belongings which he said got him kicked out of his room in the Hamilton, as he had more than the permitted one knife for cooking. Black Press Media is unable to confirm the specifics of why Rogers was asked to leave.
Now, just as the temperatures are dropping well-below zero, he said he is planning to move to a spot he has leveled out for a tent in the Williams Creek area, and the day after speaking to Black Press Media, he was going to take his belongings there.
His family is unable to help him, and he said his mother also struggles with addiction.
He said he helped her during an overdose within the past week.
“I couldn’t get her back to life, I was just breathing for her until the paramedics got there,” he said.
Rogers said he misses living in Likely, having worked as a fly-fishing guide while he was there, which he loved.
“That was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said of the job.
His attachment to his dog, he said is what is keeping him from getting treatment for his dependence on drugs.
“I would go to treatment in a heartbeat but I don’t trust anyone with him,” he said noting the dog gets anxiety when he is away from him.
Tereena Donahue, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Cariboo Chilcotin Branch, said while she cannot comment on any specific case for privacy reasons, the organization does not evict people. As a transitional process of housing, sometimes people will not meet the requirements for the level of services they are at and there are a limited number of long-stay rooms available for those progressing along the housing continuum.
While a person may be asked to leave one type of housing, they can always access the emergency shelter.
“We don’t have anybody that can’t come unless they are being an immediate threat to the wellbeing of the people at the shelter,” said Donahue. As for their belongings, she said they also recognize this can be a barrier for many, and CMHA has rented a storage facility for people who want to come in for the winter from an encampment but keep their camping supplies for the following year.
She said they also accommodate carts or bags for those coming into the emergency shelter. Donahue noted there is an official complaints process to deal with issues.
“Those utilizing these services must adhere to specific guidelines that prioritize the health and safety of everyone in the space,” said Donahue.
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