Obituary

John Weaver passed away peacefully at the age of 92 on Saturday, April 26^th, 2025, at the Royal Jubilee Hospital surrounded by his loving family.

He is survived by Ludmilla, his wife of 65 years; his children Andrew (Jordan), Anthony (Laurence) and Alexandra (Dan); grandchildren Maria, David, Hélène, Paul, Nicolas, Nicholas, Charlotte and Georgia. He is also deeply mourned by his sister Margaret, and his extended family and friends in Canada and abroad.

John was born on 5^th November 1932, in Birmingham, UK where he spent his childhood and attended Solihull Grammar School. In 1950 he enrolled at Bristol University and earned an Honours degree in Mathematics.  He also joined the University Training Corps, and in 1953 was selected as one of two representatives from Bristol University to march in the coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth II. That same year, John boarded the Empress of France in Liverpool and set sail for Montreal on his way to the University of Saskatchewan where he completed both his MSc and PhD in Physics. It was there that he met his future wife Ludmilla at the International Students’ Club. They married in 1960.

After honeymooning in the UK and continental Europe they moved to Victoria where John worked as a research scientist at the Pacific Naval Laboratory in Esquimalt. In 1966 he accepted a faculty position at the University of Victoria and later served as Chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department. John then became the first Dean of UVic’s newly formed Faculty of Science and held this position until his retirement in 1998.

John will be remembered as a true gentleman, devoted husband, father, grandfather, and patriarch. He was kind and highly respected by a large circle of extended family, friends, and colleagues around the world. His strength of character, empathy, kindness, erudition, humour, and unwavering devotion to his family will be sorely missed.

Special thanks to the staff at Royal Jubilee Hospital, especially nurses Rowena, Nathan, Jeremy, Gabriella and Kat for their compassionate and professional attention to his needs. Special thanks also to the staff at Amica Somerset House, especially Jodie and Joy.

A funeral will be held at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria, BC, on Monday, 5^th May, at 1 pm (PST).

Funeral service

Eulogy

When John, Dad, Grandpa or Gramps as David and I know him, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February, he decided to prepare his own eulogy. As he told his daughter Alexandra, “I want to make sure the dates of the events in my life are mentioned correctly”. This was a perfect example of John’s meticulous attention to detail – a trait we deeply admired, even if it could be a bit frustrating when he corrected our grammar mid-sentence.

He also said that he wanted a eulogy that traced his journey in life, believing that would be more interesting than an “exaggerated account of how wonderful he was”. Sadly, John passed away before he was able to finish it. On the positive side, it leaves us room to finish his story in our words….

John Weaver was born on 5 November, 1932 in Birmingham, UK and grew up in nearby Solihull. The area was a major target for the Luftwaffe in World War 2 and John spent many nights in an air raid shelter in the back garden.  In a field opposite the house was a searchlight and an anti-aircraft gun, down the road a barrage balloon and right outside the house a smokescreen incinerator which emitted oily, black smoke to obscure enemy targets on the ground. It is not surprising therefore that several houses on Solihull Road were bombed, but not his fortunately.

John won a place at Solihull School, an independent ‘public’ school which took scholarship boys.  After the war, John’s father (who had been employed on war work at the nearby Rover company) obtained a new position as a sales representative for a Birmingham company making hotel bar equipment and was transferred to Bristol. Since John was approaching the all-important School Certificate examination, he stayed on in Solihull, living with his grandparents, while the rest of the family, mother, father and his younger sister Margaret moved to Bristol.  This was a decision he later came to regret. On the positive side, one of his school friends invited him to join his family on a holiday in Switzerland. This was a transformative life experience for John who up to this point had been the consummate parochial Englishman, having rarely travelled beyond his local comfort zone, only once to London and never abroad.  He was immediately fascinated by the variety of cultures, languages, ways of life, tastier food and superior infrastructure on the continent.  He became an instant Europhile, and the experience inspired a love of travel and adventure which lasted throughout his life. Later in life this led him to travel extensively all across the world with Ludmilla and family.

In 1950 he reunited with the family when he enrolled at Bristol University to study for an Honours degree in Mathematics. In the summer vacations he returned to the continent, hitch-hiking around France and Switzerland with friends and working in an aluminium factory in Norway.  He also joined the University Training Corps, and in 1953 was selected as one of two representatives from Bristol University to march in the coronation procession of Queen Elizabeth 2^nd.

By chance, a distant relative who had married a Professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan, visited the family while on a tour of the UK. She suggested John experience life at a Canadian university by taking a Master’s degree at the University of Saskatchewan.  John took this suggestion with a pinch of salt but was very surprised when several weeks later a letter arrived from the Head of the Physics Department inviting him to apply for graduate work with the promise of financial support.  The relative had followed through after all but with a slight error — she got the wrong department, Physics rather than Mathematics! But with his recently acquired sense of adventure John thought “Why not?”.  In September 1953, much to his sister’s dismay that he was once again leaving the family, John handed in his Ration Book as he boarded the ‘Empress of France’ in Liverpool and set sail for Montreal.

To say that his arrival in Saskatoon, a small town isolated in the middle of the prairies with their fierce winters and hot dry summers was a cultural shock, is an understatement. His home in England was a three-day train journey and a week-long sea voyage away; telephone calls to family were very expensive and had to be booked well in advance for a timed three-minute conversation. Nevertheless, John found the Saskatchewan people warm and friendly; he was tremendously impressed with the quality of the faculty and students in the Physics Department, and he soon made a wide circle of friends, many, like him, from Europe.  As his MSc graduation approached, John was selected for an exchange scholarship to study at Göttingen University in Germany, which was another life-changing experience.

The exchange committed John to return to the University of Saskatchewan to continue his graduate studies.  The next three years as he worked towards his PhD were a bit of a grind, but he enjoyed teaching some mathematics courses.  His social life revolved around the International Students Club, the Saskatoon German Club and playing soccer.  In the two clubs he met a ‘French’ girl — at least he thought she was French because she was speaking French and kept talking about growing up in France — but he soon discovered she was Ukrainian sent by her parents in Montreal to study at a Ukrainian Institute in Saskatoon.

John and Ludmilla were married in Montreal, 8th of May, 1960, nearly 65 years today.  After a honeymoon in the UK and continental Europe they set off for Victoria where John had a position at the Pacific Naval Laboratory in Esquimalt.

And so John and Ludmilla left Saskatoon for good in May 1961 and started a new life in Victoria.  They bought their first house in Esquimalt; Andrew was born in November 1961; Anthony in February 1965. Many years later their daughter Alexandra was born in 1976.

After five enjoyable and scientifically productive years at PNL, John realised that if he was ever to achieve his goal of eventually returning to his homeland, now was the time to act. One advertised post that seemed particularly attractive was for a mathematics lecturer at a polytechnic in England.  The application forms were sent to him, however, by surface rather than air mail, arriving well after the closing date. He returned them anyway and received a very apologetic reply from the head of the department saying he would be notified if other positions became available. Meanwhile, with the University of Victoria expanding rapidly, John received an offer of a permanent position in the Physics Department.  He delayed his response as long as possible but eventually, having heard nothing more from the polytechnic, he accepted the faculty position at UVic in 1966. Less than two weeks later, a letter from England did arrive inviting him to apply for one of four positions now available!  John often mused how different his journey through life would have been had a wrong stamp not been put on the envelope when mailing the initial application form.

From the time John joined the University of Victoria to his passing, he devoted his research and passion to studying geophysics, in particular geomagnetism. John initially was appointed to the Department of Physics and Astronomy and later cross-appointed with the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences. His breadth of scientific interest, collegiality, and vision for expansion in the Science Faculty all led to his appointment first as Chair of Physics and Astronomy (1980-1988) and then as Dean of Science (1993-1998). As Dean, he not only helped foster growth and development of the new School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, the Centre for Earth and Ocean Research, the VENUS and NEPTUNE cabled ocean observatories, but also more broadly the Centre for Global Studies and instituted a Teaching Awards program. These developments succeeded in part because of his energy, devotion, fairness and openness as an academic administrator.

He remained active well into retirement as a Professor Emeritus and in supporting individuals for scholarships and prizes and mentoring further academic programs within the Faculty of Science. He was entirely unselfish, and became a dependable supporter for new initiatives in research and teaching such as the Canada Research Chairs Program. He was a consummate coach for the Faculty of Sciences and UVic, watching out to help new faculty members and in advancing new initiatives that have helped build UVic’s strong international reputation – elbows up, but always in a gentlemanly posture. Our family has been touched by how fondly John is remembered by his many friends and colleagues from his days at UVic.

John also had a keen interest in local affairs and was a frequent contributor to the Letters section of the Times Colonist. He was an active member of the Rockland Neighbourhood Association and a keen supporter of the Capital Region Municipal Amalgamation Society.

In editing this section of John’s eulogy, we were struck by John’s insistance on pointing out that the “University of Victoria” was an obvious misnomer because one end of the building he worked in was in Oak Bay and the other in Saanich. What a demonstration of John’s keen eye to detail!

In addition to his valuable professional and community contributions, anyone familiar with John would know that many of his greatest contributions were to the lives of his family and friends. John requested his eulogy to be purely factual and chronological, leaving pleasantries aside; however, we believe that pleasantries are not just appropriate, but factual when describing the impact he had on his loved ones. In a break from chronology, we would like to share some warm memories chosen by members of John’s family that highlight the ways he touched the lives of those around him.

His children and grandchildren remember fondly:

• the extraordinary scavenger hunts he would put on for his grandchildren
• His hand-drawn cards (John was a talented artist!)
• Helping every grandchild with math at some point in their life (“Grandpa school”)
• bed-time stories, some short and some unbelievably long and imaginative (Alice and Jane and the penny story)
• trips with his grandchildren, including destinations like Chemainus and a brave tour of England with his French grandchildren
• His culinary specialty – cut along the dotted line soup!
• Teaching his grandchildren to play chess and then later beating them almost every game (the family champion!)
• Buying his grandchildren shirley temples at the faculty club
• Going for walks with his tilly hat and dark sunglasses, even when it was mild and cloudy.
• John falling asleep at the cinema and the kids being embarrassed when he snored
• Endless games of Snakes and Ladders, Loup Garou (although nobody could quite figure out the purpose of this game…), and more.
• Taking his grandchildren to camps in the summer (like sports camps)
• And being loving and accepting of his family no matter what

In his latter years John spent his days visiting Ludmilla at Mt. St. Mary’s. Ludmilla had developed Alzheimers and needed full time care which John could no longer give. John developed a daily ritual, rain or shine, seven days a week of picking Ludmilla up from Mt. St. Mary’s to take her for a drive (or a Trishaw experience). He was always looking for what we lovingly termed “a destination”. Many days involved a walk with Ludmilla around Turkey Head or Clover Point (John would always point out how the picnic tables were never used!). Other days he would stop at Alexandra’s or their house in Rockland for tea. And sometimes it simply involved a soft ice cream cone at the Beacon Drive in. The staff at Mt. St. Mary’s frequently commented on John’s incredible dedication to his wife.

John lived a very full life and always took a genuine interest in the lives of others. In the later years of his life, in addition to all that was mentioned above, he spent his time:

• Attending Friday evenings at the Faculty Club with the “regular crew”.
• Spending time with family, his three children and many grandchildren (including treating them to their annual trip to the Deep Cove Chalet)
• Enjoying walks with the Cathedral Walking Group
• Hosting (expert level!) trivia for his neighbours at Amica Somerset even through his health struggles.
• Enjoying the finer treats in life, like nespressos, marmalade, and gin martinis!
• Researching his genealogical roots and putting together the family history with the help of his daughter-in-law, Laurence, for the benefit of his grandchildren
• And writing articles on a vast array of subjects, from mathematics to public policy, on his personal blog Beorminga.

Not long before his passing, John remarked on how much he loved his family and how proud he was of his children, Andrew, Anthony and Alexandra. On his last day, he was surrounded by family. All of his children and grandchildren were there with him in the room or connected via video call (from all around the world no less). He passed peacefully, holding my (Maria) and my father’s hands. John is loved and dearly missed.

A close family friend visited John during his final hours and shared some words on the end of life from her late husband. We’d like to end off by sharing an extract from a funeral address by the late Desmond Carroll that we think John would have appreciated.

“The end of life brings us to a threshold as we face that mysterious place where the known and the unknown intersect. We ponder, with all those emotions that seek to understand, what may be beyond. As we were sustained and comforted in our lives by love, there is a greater love that waits on the other side of the threshold that understands our humanity…

Today in the legislature I had the pleasure of introducing Jackie Powell along with Sister Patricia Donovan, Sister Judi Morin, Cherry Lynn Brown, Bruce Sanders, Joe Devison, Naomi Beck, Owen Jones, Mike Mori, Tula Rivera, Peter Fitzpatrick and Sonia Garza, who have been instrumental in setting up Connections Place. As noted on their website:

“Connections Place is a Greater Victoria, BC-based community that helps people with mental illness achieve self-reliance, and use their skills and talents to get their lives back on track.“

I first met Jackie Powell in 2014 when she came to me as a constituent with a vision. She wanted to realize a goal of providing a day program for people with mental health challenges. I was incredibly impressed with her presentation on the need for a program modelled on the Clubhouse International program. Jackie has persevered and built support for her initiative and kept me informed of her progress for the last five years.

Connections Place opened up its doors in March of 2019 and now has about 100 members, with more coming onboard every week. I’m absolutely thrilled to see her vision become a reality today.

Below I reproduce the video and text of the Statement I gave celebrating the importance of Connections Place in our community.

Video of Statement

Text of Statement

Today is World Mental Health Day. There are many individuals and organizations doing incredible work in this field across our beautiful province. But today I want to speak about just one that I had the pleasure of visiting this past summer. Connections Place is a recently opened Clubhouse International in the greater Victoria area. The Clubhouse model is an evidence-based model of psychosocial rehabilitation for people who are struggling with a mental illness.

Isolation is a major factor in mental illness, and a clubhouse gives a people a reason to wake up in the morning, a place to come to, to have a purpose, to be welcomed, needed and wanted, to be part of a community of caring people. I witnessed that firsthand and put behind those words my experience to say that they are exactly as I read. A small group of trained staff work alongside members to guide them to full social inclusion.

Connections Place is not alone in B.C. Their mentor clubhouse, Pathways in Richmond, has been operating for over 30 years successfully and helping the lives of many. It’s been named as one of Canada’s top 10 impact charities. This is clearly a model that works.

One in four people struggle with a mental illness in the greater Victoria area. That’s about 95,000 people. Almost a quarter of that number will have a serious and permanent mental illness — almost 25,000 people — which can cut life expectancy by up to 20 years. Families, employers and emergency services are all impacted.

Connections Place opened up its doors in March of 2019 and now has about 100 members, with more coming onboard every week. I welcome the addition of Connections Place to our community. This was Jackie Powell’s vision when I first met her in 2014. I’m absolutely thrilled to see her vision become a reality today.

This is the second post in our four-part series exploring the concept of “Basic Income”. Our first post focused on providing background information on the topic.  It prompted more than 60 comments on this site and more than 450 comments on my MLA Facebook page. As a consequence, it is apparent to us that there is broad interest in the idea.

1. Responding to your comments

Our introduction to the concept of basic income received a huge number of thoughtful responses. Many shared their own stories about challenging periods in their lives: time spent living in poverty or on the edge of it, working in precarious or underpaid positions with uncertain futures, and struggling to raise a family or achieve personal goals in this context. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to share their feedback on the idea of a basic income, for the thoughtfulness of the comments and the support and commitment that so many showed to working towards a future that is more just and equitable for all, whether through a basic income policy or other means.

The comments showcased a number of common hopes that people hold for a basic income policy, dissatisfaction with the status quo, and concerns for the risks that a basic income could involve. In this post we will elaborate on some of the themes that we found in the responses, diving deeper into the situation we are in today.

In the responses to our backgrounder, the most widely expressed sentiment was hope in the idea that a basic income policy could end the poverty cycle, eliminate the traps that keep people in poverty throughout their lifetimes and across multiple generations, and treat those in need with greater dignity. In response, in this post we want to focus more closely on the current condition of poverty in BC and our response to it, and highlight how a basic income might offer an alternative solution.

2. Poverty and Social Assistance in BC

We have already highlighted BC’s higher than average rates of poverty, with between 11-16% of adults and 16-20% of children living in poverty, depending on the measure used. Poverty disproportionately affects children and single-parent families: more than half of all children living in single-parent families were living in poverty in 2013, compared to 13% for children in couple families. Aboriginal people, recent immigrants, and people with disabilities are also more vulnerable to poverty.

Estimates of poverty levels differ according to the measure used. The low income measure, low income cut-offs, and the market-based measure are three measures commonly used in Canada.

1. The low income measure (LIM) is a relative measure, set at 50% of median adjusted household income.
2. The low-income cut-off  is an income threshold below which a family will likely devote a larger share of its income on the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family. The average family spends 43% of their income on food, shelter, and clothing, whereas families below the low-income cut-off usually spend 63% of their income on these necessities.
3. The market-basket measure is based on the estimated cost of purchasing a “basket” of goods and services deemed to represent the standard of consumption for a reference family of two adults and two children, including: a nutritious diet, clothing and footwear, shelter, transportation, and other necessary goods and services (such as personal care items or household supplies). The cost of the basket is compared to disposable income for each family to determine low income rates.

Each of these measures result in slightly different statistics, hence the range of numbers used.

3. Details of current social assistance programs

There are a myriad of programs that make up income assistance in BC, specific eligibility requirements, and a complex application process that may include interviews, home check-ins, and mandatory work search periods. In your comments, many of you spoke of the invasiveness, restrictiveness, and stigma of current income assistance programs.

Welfare rates in BC today are $610 per month for a single individual without a disability who is expected to look for work. The rates haven’t increased for nearly 10 years. Advocacy organizations estimate that a single individual on welfare has only $18 per week to spend on food; the organization Raise the Rates recently ran a challenge to illustrate the difficulty of eating on such a small budget. One individual who we spoke with recently shared his personal story of living on income assistance: he is disabled, and so receives income assistance for persons with disabilities, which totals just over $900/month. He wants to return to school to receive training and accreditation, but the strict limits on how much he can save have prevented him from doing so. He is seeking work, but to improve his prospects he needs to get more education, and the claw back of dollars earned has been a disincentive for him to seek out a low-paying job. Furthermore, the affordability crisis has affected him directly: he was evicted because the land on which he lived was being developed into condos, and his new rental unit requires almost all of his income, thus requiring him to rely on food banks for food. He calls being on income assistance “humiliating and constricting”. This individual’s story highlights a number of struggles that many face in trying to move their lives forward while on income assistance.

It’s important to note that many British Columbians living in poverty are not welfare recipients. Working poverty is a growing problem across BC: Vancouver had the second-highest rate of working poverty in the country (behind Toronto), at 8.7% in 2012, although this percentage is likely higher now given the recent affordability crisis affecting the region.  The high cost of living, the low minimum wage, and the growth of precarious employment have contributed to rising levels of working poverty. The minimum wage was recently raised to $10.85/hour, whereas the estimated living wage is $20.02 in Victoria and $20.64 in metro Vancouver. The living wage is what a family needs to cover basic expenses, such as food, clothing, housing, child care, transportation, and a small savings in case of emergencies. It is calculated based on a two-parent two-child family, with both parents working full-time. The discrepancy between the minimum wage and the amount of income required to cover basic expenses leaves many families across our Province below the poverty line.

4. Basic income and poverty reduction

A basic income policy could offer a solution to poverty in BC, if the payments are constructed to ensure that all recipients, in different parts of the province, with different family sizes and different challenges, are able to live above the poverty line. If a basic income replaced our current income assistance programs, individuals in need would no longer have to prove themselves eligible or justify their need for assistance, through completing mandatory work searches, interviews, or home check-ins, for example. Simply falling below the income threshold would automatically qualify you. Replacing our invasive welfare system with a basic income that is framed as an automatic payment program, similar to the tax credits and payments many sections of our society receive today, could reduce significantly the stigma around receiving income assistance. This in itself could have a dramatic effect on the self-esteem and social inclusion of those in need of support. 

One issue that is often brought up in discussions of basic income and poverty reduction is the issue of cost. The cost of a basic income policy is potentially significant but is hard to quantify, since it depends on a wide range of factors, including the amount paid, the eligibility requirements of recipients, and which services it will complement and which it will replace. These factors will be discussed in greater detail in a future post. However, it is essential that, in considering the question of cost, we consider the cost of maintaining the status quo, including the hidden and indirect costs to society of our current levels of poverty.

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives estimates that poverty in BC costs society $8.1-$9.2 billion annually. This figure stems from the direct costs of social assistance programs to the government, as well as the adverse consequences of poverty, which have significant costs borne by society as a whole. The consequences of poverty include poor health, due to high levels of obesity, alcohol, tobacco and drug use, as well as inadequate nutrition and physical inactivity), high levels of stress and mental health problems, higher than average levels of domestic abuse, low literacy rates, poor educational performance, and high crime rates. The associated costs of these consequences show up through higher usage of public health care, increased policing needs and costs to the justice system, and lost productivity and economic activity. 

As noted in our previous post, the basic income pilot project undertaken in Manitoba showed significant impacts on the healthcare system in particular: it reduced hospital visits by 8.5%. The decrease in hospital visits was attributed by researcher Evelyn Forget to the reduction of stress in low income families, which resulted in lower rates of alcohol and drug use, lower levels of domestic abuse, fewer car accidents, and lower levels of hospitalization for mental health issues. 

Homelessness, which we explored in a series last winter, is inextricably linked to inadequate income for those working and receiving assistance, a lack of affordable housing, and inadequate access to support services. Homelessness has enormous costs to the BC Government, and a number of studies have found that it costs less to directly address the problem of homelessness and invest in prevention than it does to manage homelessness (see here and here, for example). A basic income could provide an integral part of ending homelessness, but it could not completely supplant other social services, such as supportive housing and mental health and addictions services.

The story of youth in transition is similar: as noted in the previous post, a recent report by the Vancouver Foundation finds that paying all youth ages 18-24 transitioning out of foster care a “basic support fund” of between $15,000-$20,000 would result in overall savings to the Provincial Government of $165-$201 million per year, due to the adverse outcomes youth in transition currently experience and their associated costs.

In your comments, many of you raised concerns specifically with the idea of paying youth a basic income without a work requirement, suggesting that doing so could undermine the development of a work ethic or discourage their entry into the work force. Given the range and magnitude of adverse outcomes that youth in transition currently experience, such a concern may not be warranted, or perhaps should not take priority over helping them avoid such outcomes by whichever means possible. Beyond youth specifically, there was a hesitation expressed by a number of commenters that a basic income would provide a strong disincentive for many people to work, and would thus undermine their sense of self-worth and identity. On the other hand, many of you expressed the mirror image of this thought: that a basic income would provide freedom from the constraints and stress that currently plague those on income assistance, allowing individuals to better their lives, go after their dreams and realize their potential. Which version of this thinking we adhere to depends to a great extent on our assumptions about what factors motivate and prevent people from working, and what gives people satisfaction and fulfillment. This issue will be further explored in our next post in this series.

5. Conclusion

We would appreciate further thoughts from you on the state of poverty and assistance in BC and whether you think a basic income could offer a solution. If you’d like to share a personal story or thoughts that you would prefer not to make public, please email us at andrew.weaver.mla@leg.bc.ca. In our next post, will explore the future of work, focusing on the rise of precarious employment and the effects of technological advance. We will discuss what these changes to the world of work will mean for all of us, and how a basic income policy might enable us to respond to these changes as a society.

As part of our series on poverty and homelessness we asked people to consider sharing a story about their experiences. Sharing these stories serves as a reminder that poverty and homelessness are not a choice. It’s important for us to end the stigma and stereotypes that are too often associated with these issues. Each of us has followed a different path from the past to the present. Yet some of our paths have been rockier than others.

This week we are pleased to offer the seventh of these stories. We are grateful to the Victoria Cool Aid Society for providing it to us. Working in partnership with others to develop community-based solutions, Cool Aid provides emergency shelter, supportive housing, integrated health care and other support services to those in need.  

Next Steps Transitional Shelter

Helping over 9,000 people in the Capital Region every year, the Cool Aid Society is one of the leading service providers for people who are homeless and is the largest provider of supportive housing outside of the Lower Mainland, for people who have been homeless.

Last year alone, over 1,700 individuals stayed in Cool Aid shelters  and over 4,000 patients received primary health care at the Cool Aid Community Health Centre. Additionally, Cool Aid currently operates 374 apartments for people who have been homeless and this year they will begin construction of Cottage Grove Apartments in Saanich, for seniors who are currently homeless.

Cool Aid’s Next Steps Transitional Shelter, provides an opportunity for 15 emergency shelter clients to access the resources and services they need to get their lives back on track. Such services include housing, employment, financial, life skills and mentorship, as well as physical and mental health services. ‘J’ is one of those clients:

“I have spent seven years of my life on the streets of Victoria, mostly under a bridge. Life was hard, life was cold. I had tried to make the transition from streets to housing before. Unfortunately, I never had the resources to stay in housing nor the skills for the job to pay my bills.

At the beginning of this last attempt to get off the streets I heard about this place called Next Steps run by the Cool Aid Society. What they had to offer was exactly what would help me do the transition properly. I will be attending school while staying at Next Steps. I will be gaining the skill set to get a job that will pay the bills and that I will thoroughly enjoy.

The impact of all of this will be far reaching and impact my life in such a tremendous way. Next Steps is offering a chance to produce positive, outstanding people who used to think they had no chance. Next Steps has a lot to offer me and any person wanting to make the best change one can make. From under a bridge to under a roof.”

As part of our series on poverty and homelessness we asked people to consider sharing a story about their experiences. Sharing these stories serves as a reminder that poverty and homelessness are not a choice. It’s important for us to end the stigma and stereotypes that are too often associated with these issues. Each of us has followed a different path from the past to the present. Yet some of our paths have been rockier than others.

This week we are pleased to offer the sixth of these stories. We are grateful to the Our Place Society for providing it to us. Our Place provides an array of services and programs to Greater Victoria’s most vulnerable populations. Serving over 58,000 meals in October alone. Our place has experienced a 62% growth in demand for meals with their new extended winter hours.

Al’s Story

When you first meet Al, you are taken in by his eyes: clear, strong and focused. But those eyes also contain a vulnerability that tells you he is someone who has lived rough, faced difficult decisions, and known pain.

Born and raised in Victoria, Al’s life was turned upside down 11 years ago when he lost his job as a security guard. He admits that he shares responsibility for the loss as, “I was stubborn. They wanted rid of me and I gave them the excuse.”

Unable to find a new job, combined with personal troubles at home, Al ended up on the street. A short time later, his brother, Tom, lost both his job and the place where he was living, and joined Al in the vacant doorways of downtown Victoria.

“I couldn’t stay in the shelters,” says Al. “The snoring and stench of feet was too much. I’d rather sleep on the street.”

Al and his brother staked a nightly claim in a spot with an overhanging roof that helped shield them from the snow and rain.

“It has its ups and downs,” says Al. “Eighty to ninety percent of the people you meet are good, but every day has its challenges.”

One of those challenges was finding a safe place to stash his sleeping bag and extra clothes. “No matter how well you hid it, someone always sniffed it out and stole it,” he says.

The one bright spot in Al’s day was Our Place. “I’d show up every morning for breakfast,” he says. “It was the first place I turned to when I had nowhere else to go.”

The one thing that Al always had going for him was his work ethic. “I don’t ask anyone for anything,” says Al. “I would get up at six in the morning to go bottling, and was usually on my bike until ten at night. Living on the street is boring. You have to keep busy.”

Collecting bottles around Victoria also gave Al a sense of purpose as neighbourhood residents came to know his schedule, and would look out for him hauling bottles and cans on his bicycle.

“Sometimes I would be so loaded down with bottles that people would stop to take my picture,” Al says with a minimal grin. “I even got a police escort to the bottle depot once after a cop saw me piled high with 780 bottles. It was just two blocks, but I’ll always remember that.”

Another memory he’ll cherish is the generosity of some of the friends he made on the route.

“One family gave me a new sleeping bag when they heard mine got stolen,” he says. “Another stuck an envelope with forty-five bucks inside into their recycling bin at Christmas. I tried to return it, but they insisted I keep it.”

Al enjoyed bottling because it allowed him to be his own boss, which was a better fit for his personality. But Al also knew he needed to get his life back on track.

A father of two, who lost his own father at 14, Al wanted a more stable life. That goal became even more important when he took on responsibility for his two young grandchildren.

Always keeping busy, Al was spending more time at Our Place by volunteering in the hygiene area and cleaning up the courtyard. So when the Manager of Housing, John Sherratt, heard Al was ready to make a change, he suggested Al apply through the Coordinated Access to Supportive Housing (CASH) program for supportive housing.

Shortly after moving into one of our 45 transitional units, Al applied and was hired for a custodial position at Our Place, where he has been working part-time for the last four months.

“It’s really helped my self-esteem,” says Al. “And got my morals back on track.”

Having lived on the street for over a decade, Al knows he still has a way to go before he can return to sustainable, independent living. But the staff at Our Place is there to help him succeed by providing more employment skills and planning his progress to less-supported housing.

And as one look in Al’s eyes will tell you, he’s too strong to fail.