'Fentanyl, it’s destroying everybody': Homeless crisis grows in Chilliwack
'Fentanyl, it’s destroying everybody': Homeless crisis grows in Chilliwack
On the streets of Chilliwack, there are more homeless people than ever before, and some of them are barely teenagers.
On the streets of Chilliwack, there are more homeless people than ever before, and some of them are barely teenagers.
“The youngest I saw was just the other day, she was 13,” said Bryn Troman, who works at Ruth & Naomi’s Mission.
“Fortunately, she did just get placement,” Troman explained.
Though numbers from a recent homeless count have not yet been released, it’s estimated there are about 500 unsheltered people in the community. That’s a jump of roughly 60 per cent since 2020.
“We have more seniors accessing our shelter services, we have people who access our shelter services who get up every morning, head off to work, come back here at the end of the day and they live in the shelter so they can have an affordable place to live,” said Scott Gaglardi, the executive director of Ruth & Naomi’s Mission.
Every day, the shelter serves about 380 meals, mostly to people who are homeless, but also those struggling to make ends meet.
“A week ago, we were serving dinner here, a single mom with two twins in her stroller came in and they’re accessing our food program…just to offset their costs,” he explained.
Some people who use services at Ruth & Naomi’s also battle addiction, including William Oickle.
“Fentanyl, it’s destroying everybody,” he said. “I wouldn’t be homeless if I never did fentanyl.”
But he told CTV News that he is attending a program through the Mission to help him beat his addiction.
“Places like this save lives. If it wasn’t for places like this, there’d be a lot more people dying out here,” he said.
Oickle explained that he had been living in a tent before coming to the Mission.
“A lot of nights it got really cold, windy,” he explained.
David Sheldon, who used to be a truck driver, said he also uses opioids and is homeless.
“It robs you of your dignity, that’s for sure,” he said.
Gaglardi said shelter beds are always full and what’s really needed is more affordable housing.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province is trying to respond to what he calls a “challenging” situation.
“We have, in fact, in Chilliwack, more units opening up. We had some units that just opened and we have more coming on line. We have partnerships with local first nations to get housing built on reserve as well,” he said.
Oickle, 39, said one of the toughest things about being homeless is the way people look at him when they walk by.
“It makes you feel unwanted and unloved,” he said.
“Everybody in this world deserves empathy and love and kindness,” said Troman.
She said she understands the struggles many clients are facing because of a personal loss.
“I had a foster brother who passed away from an overdose,” she explained.
Troman said a couple nights ago, there were three overdoses at the shelter.
She’s only been working at the Mission a few months, but said she knows her work is making a difference.
“We had a young gentleman overdose and I did CPR on him for 10 minutes and it was exhausting. But seeing that pulse come and watching him take that first breath after doing all those chest compressions was so relieving,” she said.
A U.S. federal court unsealed an indictment against Donald Trump on Friday detailing 37 charges against the former president for retaining classified government documents after he left office in 2021.
Air Canada has rejected compensation claims from some travellers who were among the thousands affected by flight delays caused by computer problems in recent weeks -- a response it now calls 'erroneous,' with cash offers en route.
Amid raging wildfires in western and eastern provinces, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Craig Stewart, shares what residents need to know about wildfire policy coverage.
Environment Canada has been advising people to check the Air Quality Health Index as wildfire smoke blanketed large swaths of Canada in recent days, but even without wildfires, the index can be a useful tool to monitor air pollution.
Anthaea-Grace Patricia Dennis is not your typical 12-year-old. She is a child prodigy who's about to become the youngest Canadian to ever graduate from university.
The father of Tori Stafford, an Ontario girl who was murdered in 2009, says the latest decision to transfer convicted killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison is a 'slap in the face' to all murder victims' families.
Two years after two statues were knocked down and damaged at the Manitoba Legislature, one is now back up and Indigenous leaders are upset by the decision.
A vehicle detour route that is serving as a lifeline between eastern and western Vancouver Island amid a raging wildfire will be closed for much of the day Friday.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her new cabinet Friday, about two weeks after her United Conservative Party took the majority of seats in Alberta.
WestJet and Swoop pilots have ratified a new collective agreement after a bargaining process that saw the threat of a strike snarl many Canadians' long weekend plans last month.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her new cabinet Friday, about two weeks after her United Conservative Party took the majority of seats in Alberta.
Statistics Canada released its May 2023 Labour Force Survey on Friday, which showed Alberta's unemployment rate dipping to 5.7 per cent, down from 5.9 per cent in April.
A new report by the city’s ombudsman found that the Toronto Community Housing Corporation failed to properly address human rights complaints made by tenants and has not made human rights and the dignity of residents “a priority.”
Montreal police (SPVM) stats for 2022 show that crime went up dramatically in 2022 and, taking COVID-19 pandemic numbers into account, violent crimes have been on the rise overall since 2017. In addition, motor vehicle thefts skyrocketed, having more than doubled since pre pandemic years.
The arrival of firefighters from France and New Brunswick is expected to bolster efforts to contain and control the large number of fires burning across Quebec in what's expected to be a marathon wildfire season, officials said Friday. Maite Blanchette Vezina, the province's minister of forests and natural resources, said the situation in the province remains critical but is improving.
A 50-year-old man who was severely beaten in the parking lot of Montreal's famed Orange Julep restaurant last month has died of his injuries, police said Friday. The victim died of his injuries in hospital on Thursday following the May 31 altercation. The Montreal police service's major crime unit is now investigating the man's death as the city's 10th homicide of the year.
Winnipeg police say a woman is in hospital with severe injuries after she was allegedly stabbed by a man in what police describe as a completely random and unprovoked attack.
A man who killed his ex-wife’s cousin will spend life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years, a judge decided on Thursday at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench.
Canada's unemployment rate ticked up in May for the first time in nine months, but forecasters say the Bank of Canada will have to see more softening in the economy before it takes it takes a step back from raising interest rates.
Nova Scotia has lifted its mandatory evacuation order for Shelburne County, in the area where the largest recorded wildfire in provincial history has been burning for about two weeks.
Residents said a London, Ont. intersection is confusing, poorly designed and dangerous — and they want immediate action to fix it. They are concerned about the intersection of Queens Avenue and English Street.
Police are requesting the public’s help in identifying a suspect they allege yelled ‘racial comments’ to pedestrians and damaged two vehicles by intentionally crashing into them last weekend in Grand Bend, Ont.
Scoring the opening goal of game three of the Stanley Cup finals wasn’t the only celebration Florida Panthers defenceman Brandon Montour was a part of this week.
Police have shut down a section of Highway 401 westbound between Woodstock and Cambridge after a crash involving a transport truck and an Ontario Ministry of Transportation vehicle.
On the streets of Chilliwack, there are more homeless people than ever before, and some of them are barely teenagers.
