Thank you.
First off, I'm honoured to be here. I think this is a very important platform.
Having been homeless for seven years and addicted for 25 years, I've given a life of service to helping people just like me. I'm here to provide my experience on homelessness and addiction and the effects on both [Technical difficulty—Editor].
First, it's one thing speaking about it, but I fully believe people need to feel what it's like to be homeless [Technical difficulty—Editor]. Nineteen years ago, I was a resident, and now I'm the executive director.
I'm going to read you something that happened a while back. [Technical difficulty—Editor] While out grabbing provisions and paying for my items, I noticed an intoxicated indigenous brother counting his change with a box of donuts in his hand. I said, “Are you okay?” He looked at me and said, “I don't have enough. I don't think I have enough.” I told him to hand them over. I scanned them with my stuff and handed them back. He didn't make eye contact once. He [Technical difficulty—Editor] and said, “God bless,” as he walked away.
I loaded my stuff into my car and noticed an indigenous lady picking through the garbage for recyclables. I walked up to her, handed her five dollars and gave her my card. [Technical difficulty—Editor] I asked her to give me a call when she was ready, and I'd help guide her towards her own healing journey. I noticed her hands were pretty beaten up and calloused. [Technical difficulty—Editor] her hand, and I held it. I told her that her hands were meant for caring for others, baking and creating. She looked down and said, “I know.” I smiled at her and told her to stay out of trouble, one of my parting sayings.
I went to leave, and I saw the gent I had bought the donuts for. I pulled over, put my hazards on, got out and asked him how the donuts were. He said, “Good, but I'm still hungry.” I shared my recovery story with him and handed him my card. I told him I had been homeless for seven years and moved into an Oxford House after treatment, and that now I was the executive director.
He looked at the card, yelled, “Earl!” and grabbed my hand and held onto it. He told me how proud he was of me. I had been homeless with him and his brother. I had housed him earlier on in my career. He told me what had happened to his brother and that he was now paralyzed. We talked. I told him to call me when he was ready. I got in my car and started driving home, crying and praying to the creator that he would call me, or someone, to start his own healing journey. We can do better.
One of the models I created [Technical difficulty—Editor] for Oxford House is one of the biggest gaps in the public serving sector and homelessness. It's called pre-treatment housing. I created this from my lived experience while waiting for treatment when I was [Technical difficulty—Editor]. Now Oxford House Foundation of Canada has North America's only licensed and accredited pre-treatment housing model.
[Technical difficulty—Editor] and residential treatment. People are dying in this gap. So many people have missed their treatment date. Now we have housing fully funded by the Government of Alberta to support people during that gap. These homes have a live-in house lead [Technical difficulty—Editor] and to stay motivated. We also have the post-treatment transitional housing, peer-led. [Technical difficulty—Editor] The impact this has on people's lives is phenomenal. You have to live it. You have to see it to believe it. I've had many MPs, many MLAs [Technical difficulty—Editor] housing, and this model should be one across Canada.
After my recent stay in Ottawa for the Global Leadership Exchange, it's evident the whole country needs this housing. It's crucial [Technical difficulty—Editor].