I had an accident a few years ago – In 2007, I fell down two flights of stairs and crushed 5 vertebrae and broke 9 ribs. All of a sudden I found myself not being able to work and/or support myself financially. I ended up on the streets with Social Assistance at $235 a month in Vancouver.
So needless to say I was finding myself scrambling to learn how to live on the streets – adapting to street life. I had to find food line ups, shelters for men, any shelter for that matter. I learned how to get what I needed. I also learned how to manipulate a system in order to survive. I started understanding why people did what they did. I’m fortunate – I don’t do drugs or drink. That made it easier for me. I could understand how to work my way through these things. God knows I wish I could help others, but I could only look after me.

My ribs started to heal a bit and then I realized, a year later, that I had a broken neck also.

I came to the Yukon because I needed to be in a smaller community and I needed access to education and retraining. Big cities have lineups that are thousands of people strong. So, at that point my life changed. I knew I needed to re-educate myself and retrain.

Read the rest of Leslie's story here.