Editor:
I was moved to tears by your front-page story of the homeless man found dead on a bench in Gibsons (“With shelter closed, client found dead outdoors,” Nov. 20). Thank you to Reverend Li, Wendy Gilbertson and Chief Calvin Craigan for bringing this man’s humanity into focus for us – and to Christine Wood for her sensitive article.
When I was growing up, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, homelessness was negligible and, though there were soup kitchens in the Downtown Eastside, we didn’t have food banks. I do not idealize that time, in which sexism and racism were more socially acceptable than they now are, but at least that post-war society took care of people (however imperfectly). My father naively believed that all our social problems were solved and we’d never go back to Depression-era deprivation.
These days, a generation and a half has grown up believing homelessness and food banks are inevitable.
Whether this man died of exposure or of some other cause, no one should have to die alone, on a bench, in the cold. We can, and should, do better than this as a society. Those suffering from mental illness, and those whose childhood trauma leaves them unable to overcome addictions, make up the bulk of the homeless. Supportive housing for them can have a ripple effect, up the housing affordability chain, which will ultimately benefit all of us except the one per cent. That’s why the powers-that-be don’t want it.
Anne Miles, Gibsons
