- [Interviewer] Katie.
- Hi.
- [Interviewer] We're in Winnipeg, Canada.
You're homeless.
You're sleeping outside in this cold.
You slept outside in this cold last night?
- Yeah, well I didn't really sleep that much.
I mostly walked around.
- [Interviewer] It's what?
Got down to 40 Fahrenheit?
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] And it's gonna be even colder.
- Yeah, it's hard.
I don't know if that's why I stay walking
cause it keeps me warm kind of.
It's better than sitting in one spot.
- [Interviewer] So what happened?
- Well, the place I was staying at before this,
it had caught fire from
an electric wire.
And then I had met my friend
and he introduced me to a bunch of people
who were also homeless and
I've just kind of been down here ever since.
- [Interviewer] Now you said
you've been in foster care or foster homes
since four years old.
- Yeah, I got taken from my dad
when I was four because
there was an issue going on and
he signed us over as permanent wards because
he figured it would give us a better lifestyle
than him and his
lifestyle.
Like, he was really bad into drinking
and he did his drugs.
He never did it in front of us
but he knew we could,
he wanted more for us out of everything.
He kinda went downhill after my mom passed away.
She passed away right before I was two years old.
And after that, a couple months later,
I had to be flown to Toronto for
emergency heart surgery
and that's where my dad actually caught
a flesh eating disease so he couldn't even work after that.
So he just went into a really bad depression
and started getting really heavy into drugs and alcohol.
So he couldn't take care of us.
- [Interviewer] How many foster homes were you in?
- I've been in like, lots.
I'm pretty sure it was like 13 different homes now.
And like 13 different schools.
I've never really stayed in a placement
more than a year and a half.
Until my very last placement.
She was amazing and she taught me amazing things.
And I couldn't be more grateful for her.
- [Interviewer] Now what happened?
Did you age out?
- I went on independent living for a little bit.
It was good.
I was on there for about,
I had two six month extensions of care
and then afterwards they had let me go
because you can't do more than two extensions.
And then from there on
I got into a relationship that wasn't very
good for me, I guess.
It was really good at the beginning but
things just went bad and then
from bad to worse.
It's just we were too stubborn to realize it
I guess at the time.
- [Interviewer] That's human. (laughs)
- Yeah.
- [Interviewer] So you've been outside
since March you told me?
- Yeah.
I stayed with some people here and there
at the very beginning of it.
After that, I just stopped staying at people's houses
and basically everybody that I used to know
stopped talking to me.
They turned their backs on me.
They started calling me down.
They didn't want anything to do with me anymore.
But lucky for me,
I met some great people who are out here.
And they've taken me in
and they've shown me and taught me
more about myself than I've ever known in my whole life.
- [Interviewer] We've been talking for a bit and
as horrible as homelessness is,
it changed me for the better
and you're 22.
You shouldn't be out here,
but you're dealing with it
very much
showing a lot of maturity.
- Yeah.
Well, there's no reason to just be angry about it.
It is what it is.
And honestly, yeah it's really hard.
But I really do love the moments
that I do have out here.
And I just really deep down cannot
even regret what happened.
Because regretting that would mean
regretting the people that I've met
and grown to care about.
- [Interviewer] So tell me about homelessness in Winnipeg.
- It's rough.
It really is rough.
Sometimes you meet people on their bad days.
And they're not the very nicest.
I probably cry about three times a day.
But I'm also a very emotional person.
That being said,
I also do have my uppers too
so I can't really act like a complete saint.
I do say and do things that
probably annoy a lot of people.
I can be very annoying.
I admit that.
At least people can run away, I can't.
But for most of it,
people are really generous and really nice.
I've never met so many nice people
that help me so much with everything on my journey here.
It's been actually really great.
Cause once you get through that angry little Winnipeg bear,
they're amazing people.
- [Interviewer] What's your future like?
- My future?
Well, honestly I don't know.
But I know it's going to be filled with happiness
no matter where I am.
Homeless or not.
As long as I've got the people that I have now,
I'm good.
- [Interviewer] Wow.
If you had three wishes,
what would they be?
- Three wishes?
Well, I'd wish that
probably for a Subway cookie,
to go to Toronto and
that my friends and family are safe
and well taken care of.
- [Interviewer] Well thank you very much for talking to me.
- You're welcome.
Thank you for taking your time.
(upbeat elevator music)