Safer Southside

Yesterday morning as I was standing in the bus shelter, waiting for my proletariat chariot to come whisk me off to school, I was met by two native ladies, who were also trying to escape the chilly October morning wind. They were chatting and joking, pointing at their two guy buddies across the street who were picking through the dump at the McDonald's and asserting their good fortune that they get to skip out on the pickin' for a few hours.

One of the lady's then started to pinch and pull at the stretchy fabric of her skin-tight jeans, ones she had likely received from a shelter, and she uttered, "Man, these pants are ridiculous." At this point I felt compelled to join in on the fun and exclaimed "They're skinny jeans; it's what all the cool kids are wearing." "Is that right eh?", she chuckled. With this one silly comment, I successfully got my foot in the conversational door, and for the next 10 minute I actually learned quite a bit about them.

Both of the ladies are homeless and actually live and sleep just a stone's throw away from my apartment. They said they love the south side and how it's so much safer and how they don't have to worry about getting robbed or stabbed. "Oh, the people are really nice and there's way more respect around here". Yes, she actually said respect. I felt a sense of pride in knowing that people in our neighbourhood had treated them respectfully, even if in some cases, the respect was just a facade. Most people don't even bother to hide their fear and contempt of street people.

I also inquired about which reserves they came from. One is from Saddle Lake and the other from Hobbema. Both haven't lived on the reserves in years. Their comments were, "The reserves are terrible", "Worst than living in the inner city", and "It's so much better to be homeless in the city than to stay there." Can life on the reserves really be worst than life on the streets? How and when did reservation communities become so broken?

At this point in the conversation, the bus pulled up, and for some reason I didn't say "goodbye" and "have a nice day" because I thought I'd get to sit by them. But I ended up sitting near the back while they stayed at the front. Even so, I could still hear their cheerful chatter and the occasional eruption of hearty laughter. Their joy was touching and invigorating amongst a bus full of somber, frowny and sleepy post-secondary students.  I sure hope that I will get to see these neighbours of mine again some day soon.