Where We Sleep
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0:21 - 0:23My name's Bryan Esslambre,
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0:23 - 0:25I was born on Montreal in 1988.
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0:25 - 0:28I moved to BC when I was 7.
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0:28 - 0:32Had the basic childhood,
went to school and everything. -
0:32 - 0:36Went to high school out in Surrey,
and that's where I found my passion for football. -
0:36 - 0:40And I was doing great things with it.
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0:40 - 0:48In my grade 12th year, my mother passed away,
which had a very big impact on my life. -
0:48 - 0:54I started smoking a lot of weed,
and it just led me down a bad path -
0:54 - 0:59to wasting money, not going to school and...
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0:59 - 1:03basically all of the wrong choices that you're told not to make when you're a kid.
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1:03 - 1:12And... I wouldn't change it, I would try and help other people from not doing those choices,
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1:12 - 1:17because I am where I am because of what I did,
and it's made me who I am, -
1:17 - 1:19and I'm not ungrateful,
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1:19 - 1:22but I know that 5 years ago,
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1:22 - 1:25I didn't see myself staying in a shelter,
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1:25 - 1:30but I'm glad that I'm here
than rather out on the streets. -
1:32 - 1:34It's honestly just a big learning experience.
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1:34 - 1:37I mean, who wants to be in a shelter?
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1:39 - 1:42They're not the worst living conditions.
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1:42 - 1:46I can honestly say that, from what I've seen, down on the downtown eastside [of Vancouver]
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1:46 - 1:51I know that you get your locker
checked on every day. -
1:51 - 1:54If you have food, it's not allowed.
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1:54 - 1:57There are constant bedbugs.
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1:57 - 1:59Here they do clean it quite well,
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1:59 - 2:02but living in a place with 60 other guys
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2:02 - 2:06isn't really anything that people envision
for themselves. -
2:08 - 2:09I mean, no one really thinks
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2:09 - 2:13"oh, no one's gonna have their own bedroom,
no one's gonna have somewhere to sleep, -
2:13 - 2:17no one's gonna have their own food
and be able to take care of themselves", -
2:17 - 2:21but the wrong choices can lead you anywhere.
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2:27 - 2:29Uh, my name's Trinity,
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2:29 - 2:33and right now I'm living in a transition house
for women 16 to 24 years old. -
2:33 - 2:36I'm from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories originally,
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2:36 - 2:38and I moved around a lot when I was young.
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2:38 - 2:40Since I was 16 I was pretty much on my own.
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2:40 - 2:44And uh, I somehow made it to Vancouver
like a year and a half ago. -
2:44 - 2:48And um, I was struggling with homelessness a lot,
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2:48 - 2:51and I was in and out of SRO's [ single room occupancies ] and shelters.
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2:51 - 2:54Like, a lot of the shelters had gotten shut down this year, so there was less,
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2:54 - 2:57and I found that it was really hard
trying to get into a shelter, -
2:57 - 3:01and so there were a lot of times where I was
sleeping in alleys and stuff like that. -
3:01 - 3:05And I finally found this place, which, uh,
I'm allowed to stay here for a year, -
3:05 - 3:08until I can get up on my feet.
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3:08 - 3:11It's not as bad as the other places I've lived,
it's actually pretty nice here. -
3:11 - 3:18The living conditions are... it's a clean place,
there's no bugs, there's no rodents. -
3:19 - 3:24Um, my boyfriend that I'm with right now,
we've been together for about a year, -
3:24 - 3:29and uh, he was also homeless on and off again
with me a lot of the times. -
3:29 - 3:34Like sometimes I'd have a place and he wouldn't,
or he'd have a place and I wouldn't. -
3:34 - 3:40Right now, he's staying at the Lucky Lodge Hotel,
an SRO, which is pretty atrocious. -
3:40 - 3:43I'd say it's one of the worst places
either of us have ever stayed. -
3:49 - 3:56Um, my name is Nick, I live in this shit SRO,
Lucky Lodge. -
3:57 - 4:03As you can see, there's obviously
no sink, no oven... -
4:04 - 4:08nothing really... circuit always breaks because
what goes on... -
4:08 - 4:12because you can't have 2 things plugged in at once.
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4:12 - 4:14It just goes out...
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4:15 - 4:17there's like a huge insect problem.
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4:19 - 4:22What they should do is just
tear the whole damn building down. -
4:29 - 4:35I came out of detox and I just figured, I wanted just a new place cause I was homeless at the time,
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4:35 - 4:38so I just got this place in literally one day.
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4:38 - 4:40Shouldn't even be here in the bloody first place.
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4:40 - 4:43They charge $10 a night for guests.
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4:43 - 4:47It's outrageous, considering it's $400 a month
for this type of place. -
4:47 - 4:51It's an SRO so it's not covered
under the Residential Tenancy Act, -
4:51 - 4:55so you can't just go to, like, arbitration
and bitch at them. -
4:55 - 4:59It's not under the same act,
it's a completely different tenancy act, -
4:59 - 5:02so they can get away with anything
'cause it's run like a hotel. -
5:02 - 5:07So the owners can make any rules they want,
and they enforce it. -
5:07 - 5:10And the reality in the news,
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5:11 - 5:17they just look at the idea of an SRO
as a broad generalization. -
5:17 - 5:21They just say "oh, that's low income housing, single residential occupancy,
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5:21 - 5:24a single human being could live in there"
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5:24 - 5:29They always use the words "could" and "live", like totally it's more like surviving in this dump.
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5:32 - 5:38It's a roof is what it is. A little privacy. That's it.
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5:40 - 5:44Um, I have been looking for quite a bit of work,
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5:44 - 5:49but it's listing this place
as your address on your resume, -
5:49 - 5:52people immediately reject it
just because it's a shelter. -
5:52 - 5:54So, it's not a hindrance...
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5:54 - 6:01but I do know that people would accept like
a post office box better than a shelter. -
6:01 - 6:05I would be in a very different place if I had even just stuck with my sport,
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6:05 - 6:07but I'm trying to get back into it now.
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6:07 - 6:11I'm working on my education
with the programs they have here. -
6:11 - 6:15And a lot of people are in my corner
trying to make sure that I turn out alright. -
6:19 - 6:24Um, my hopes for the future is, y'know, I'll make it
as an artist somehow, y'know. -
6:24 - 6:27Whether that be with painting or with film.
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6:27 - 6:30Um, and to also have my own place I could call home,
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6:30 - 6:34that y'know, I could have like family and friends over
whenever I like, -
6:34 - 6:37and it's clean and safe.
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6:39 - 6:41I'm grateful that I found this place.
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6:41 - 6:43It was a nice place to find,
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6:43 - 6:46but I am looking forward to the day
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6:46 - 6:48that I can get out and then give back,
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6:48 - 6:52and hopefully help people not end up
where I ended up. -
7:39 - 7:42[ Captions by: the Radical Access Mapping Project,
On Un-ceded Coast Salish Territory, 2013 ]
- Title:
- Where We Sleep
- Description:
-
Homelessness is a reality for many youth. How did they end up without a home, and where can they go from here?
http://reelyouth.ca/FRAMESfilms.html================
Captions courtesy of the Radical Access Mapping Project, Un-ceded Coast Salish Territories of the Skwxwú7mesh, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.http://radicalaccessiblecommunities.wordpress.com/subtitled-videos/
================ - Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 07:42
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Where We Sleep | ||
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Where We Sleep | ||
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Where We Sleep | ||
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Where We Sleep |