|
Homeless in Slave Lake: another winter on the way
Patrick Keller
Lakeside Leader
A few months ago, The Leader profiled a handful of folks whom for a variety of reasons have found themselves without a home. At that time, spring had sprung and the easy breezy summer months lay ahead. Sleeping under the stars would have some romantic appeal, and winter’s harsh embrace could be dismissed for a stretch. Things would be alright for a few months.
But like all good things, summer has come to an end. We have since caught up with the group, who are again preparing for a long winter and all that accompanies it when you are poor and homeless.
For 51-year-old Elmer Bellahomme, winter in Slave Lake often means riding solo, as his band of buddies spread out to different communities around the lake, maybe couch surfing out the hardest of winter months.
“It’s getting cold out there,” says Bellahomme, pointing across a field to the tent city along Sawridge Creek where the group beds down at night. “But I’ll stick around.”
Bellahomme is no stranger to cold nights. He’s been officially homeless for years, but it wasn’t always this way.
“I went to university in Edmonton,” said Bellahomme, who at one point had an appetite for academics. “I took forestry and mechanics, firefighting and psychology,” he said. “After school, I went back to High Prairie where I worked as a firefighter and a mechanic.”
Bellahomme is also an accomplished musician. He played in a rock & roll cover band that gained some notoriety around High Prairie. “We played The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, that kind of stuff. Maybe you heard of us?” he asked, but we hadn’t.
We asked what happened along the way, and how did he come to arrive at the spot in his life? His answer is similar to millions of other Canadians: Divorce.
Bellahomme says he has been married at least twice. There may be other matrimony in his past, but he can’t be sure. He has three kids from his first marriage, who would all be adults now.
But, unlike many folks who go through a messy divorce, Bellahomme admits lacking the tools necessary to pull himself up by his bootstraps. For some, the lure and pull of strong drink trumps everything else. It can be a vicious circle when you drink to forget; eventually, there is little left worth remembering.
“My second wife died about two months ago,” said Bellahomme, but his friends correct him.
“They found her behind the truck stop, and it was more like over a year ago,” friend Raymond Atkinson reminded him. They were not a couple at the time, and the woman’s death remains a mystery to the group, who still speak highly of her. “Nobody knows how she died,” said Atkinson, but they all agree alcohol was likely a factor.
Atkinson and his girl friend Mary Rose have managed to maintain a loving relationship despite their hardships. They are happy to have each other, if not much else.
“We sleep in the dugouts,” Mary Rose told us of their shelter at the baseball diamonds. “We’ve got a lot of blankets down there and as long as they don’t get soaked, we’re okay. But, it is getting pretty cold.” Rose is a bit of a matriarch among the group. For now, they take care of each other, but Rose is looking to the future.
“I’m hoping to get my mission money soon,” she says, and with it she plans to buy a trailer to house the whole crew. “We have to look after each other,” she told us.
Two others looking to improve their skinny financial portfolio are Dolphus Noskiye and Gloria Thunder. With winter fast approaching, they plan to hit the trail to Whitefish, Thunder’s old stomping ground.
“This isn’t good,” said Noskiye about their situation. “We know that. If we both started working, maybe get into treatment, we could start over.”
But Noskiye is not only the “king of the bush,” he’s also the self-appointed comedian of the group. Despite their situation, Dolphus keeps things light and keeps the humour flowing.
“Besides, we’re getting married soon,” he told us. We congratulated them both, and inquired if they had set a date. He winked and said, “It’ll be at the dugout. We’re accepting gifts right now.”
Copyright © 2000 The Lakeside Leader. All Rights Reserved.
No part may be reproduced without written permission.
View our Privacy Statement.
Send website suggestions to the Webmaster
|
