Slowly, there appears to be a growing compassion for homeless people in Maple Ridge.
Some of the people from Anita Place Tent City seem to think so.
I was at a fundraiser for the homeless camp on Saturday Night at the Open Door Church. Peter Tam was tickling the ivories, offering his best impression of Elton John, and to this reviewer’s ear doing a great job with his band. Saturday night was alright.
They raised $1,500 for the camp, but more important was the mere fact that regular folks in Maple Ridge got together to support homeless people.
Chris Bossley, who regularly volunteers at Anita Place, gave a little speech and remarked that she only recognized a few people at the fundraiser. The significance being that it wasn’t the same group of supporters – like the people who bring clean socks to the camp, or drop off sandwiches – but a growing segment of people willing to help and who represent the city in general.
Bossley also said there was a time when people would not want to get together for such a cause, fearing they might be met outside the church by a mob with torches and pitchforks.
‘Kat and Tony’ also played the show, opening for the Elton John act. Kat Wahamaa lost her son Joseph to a fentanyl overdose when he was 25. She had shared her story about that terrible loss with my talented colleague Colleen Flanagan last summer. Colleen’s feature illustrated how anyone’s kids could become addicted to drugs, with tragic results.
Saturday morning I had been to Anita Place because there was a medical emergency there. I arrived to see Maple Ridge Fire Rescue responders giving a man chest compressions. He would later die in hospital.
Beneath the online story posted to The News Facebook page, a couple of people had crass postings.
Someone criticized the paper covering the incident, saying it would only give cause for the haters to make derisive comments in social media. But by far the majority of online comments were expressions of remorse. It is worth noting that a couple of the people with these tasteless posts appeared to be from Burnaby and Vancouver, so those enlightened cities have their share of haters, too.
I’ve heard directly how homeless camps can impact neighbours, going back more than a decade.
I was working at the Abbotsford News when the Salvation Army opened a new facility downtown, on our same street. Overnight, more homeless camps appeared in the partly residential neighbourhood. I did a poll of neighbours, going around and knocking on doors.
“Good morning, ma’am, I’m with the local paper, and just asking residents if they have noticed changes in the neighbourhood since the Salvation Army opened its new facility.”
The woman broke down in tears.
She talked about coming home to find a person sleeping in her driveway. Another man said he was using a circular saw, went inside the house for a break, and when he came back out the saw was gone.
A neighbour who had a property stacked with tools and boats and cable lamented that everything had walked away from his place. He pointed to a big jack left on his front lawn.
People get fed up.
At the time, talking to those people shaped my opinions about homelessness.
Their stories have generally been repeated by residents on Cliff Avenue, and businesses that share the neighbourhood with Anita Place.
Some of their concerns are legit.
I have found myself agreeing with sentiments like Gordy Robson – who has a heart for the homeless – saying police have a role to play. He said they should arrest some homeless people for crimes they commit, if only to interrupt their lifestyle.
But when the local RCMP tells you that we can’t arrest our way out the homeless problem, as former superintendent David Fleugel liked to say, you’ve got to believe him.
I live downtown, next to Reg Franklin Park. It’s a place where people do drugs, and occasionally homeless people stay overnight there. Mostly, it’s just teens smoking pot in the ravine. But sometimes there are needles left behind, and the city sends workers in to clean up, and some neighbours have volunteered to do the same.
I saw a family of four pushing a stroller through the park, and a little girl about three years old started to run down a trail that runs through the trees parallel to the crushed gravel pathway.
Dad immediately told her to stay with her parents. She argued that the trail was there to explore.
“There could be needles there. Come here,” insisted Dad.
I felt a little bad for the girl, and the state of our neighbourhood. But that’s where we’re at.
In the fall, I was walking through the park on my way to work, and there was a young homeless guy sitting on the park bench. It was a cold morning, and he had a propane tank and a Tiger Torch, and he was hunched over the flame.
Somebody would be looking for their torch, I thought.
My better half came across him later, and Stella asked him if he needed something to eat. He had some peanut butter, but had run out of bread. She walked back to our place and brought him what was left of our loaf, and a few slices of leftover pizza from the night before.
He was appreciative.
Stella said the police soon arrived on the scene to speak with him.
Really, I’ve got to say, the impact of having homeless people in our neighbourhood on me directly is minimal. Until someone steals my barbecue tank, then I might be a tad upset.
When I go to the Anita Place and interview people of retirement age, who are poor, and not on drugs, but just stuck in a terrible place in their life, it shapes my opinion.
This experience jibes with B.C. Housing stats, which say Maple Ridge’s homeless population is in the Top 3 in Metro for both elderly, and people who have been on the street for longer than one year – 57 per cent.
Homeless and drug addicted people are going to be part of this city for a long time. And this is our problem – 60 per cent of the city’s homeless population has lived in Maple Ridge for 10 years or longer.
There are still people who like to get on a Facebook page and wish death on a homeless person.
But opinions are changing.
Neil Corbett is a journalist with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
