Mom Tastes Street Life

• .,11: . $ SS I Histor i ca l Ar c h~ ves 29 McPhillip s Ave 1 V8K 2T6 f r Salt Spring Island, BC Ft o1/01/2003 F ']_.,4. J_j :;sue 9- iVD , CJ 328 Lower Ganges Road, Salt Spring Island, B. C. V8K2V3 Tel: 250·537-9933 Fax: 250-537-2613 Toll-free: 1·877·537·9934 e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.gulfislands.net INSIDE PENDER Mom tastes NEWS Page 19 street life By SUSAN LUNDY when they go missing, the Staff Writer other kids come and ,, Second in a Series break them out. If you "You have to imagine don 't get broken out, you what it is like to be in a try to climb higher ... squat with no light except out a window and down a your Bic lighter. You ·are _gutter. waist-deep in debris .. "If you fall and die, there is no point ofrefer your body could be ence for light or sound or' thrown in~ dumpster." anything. " You are walking - - Sandie Ferguson through corridors of .Island boxes arid broken glass . A "light went out" for until you· come to a blan Sandie Ferguson on the erotica ket across an opening that day she lost her 14-year winds down, is filled with old nuittress old daughter Danielle to Eros2002 finished up es and cushions. Ten or 15 the streets. with a literary read kids are sleeping in filth Danielle ran away for ing and ball last like you can't imagine. the first time on her weekend. " You wake up in the brother's 11th birthday. .morning and you have no "We blew out the can ·......•. / .....Pagel4 concept of time . and dles and went to the - the city has come along police station," Sandie in the night and bolted recalls. you iri. It takes two guys But for the Salt Spring to kick their way out. If single mother of two, that there are no "guys " and day marked the start of the girls are connected ON THE STREETS 2 Burgoyne park plans up for grabs Basketball After two years of nail-biting efforts to. secure the pur heros hit chase of Texada lands, Salt Springers will finally have a say in the future of the land destined to become Burgoyne Bay th~ ho(Jps ProvinciaLPark. Three isltifid basketS And while it may seem like the issue that obsessed Salt lfall team~ played Spring for those two years has been yanked off ·centre stage tournaments 'last into oblivion, that isn't the case. u/c.'ekeiid, ziJith one Since the land purchase was completed last November taking first place. following the Nature Trust of B.C. preservation of the huge Garry oak woodland area several months earlier- B.C. • . .. :Pa~~s J~~ lfJ . HIP HOPPING: Seanna Johnston is having a whale of ~ time with friends at Parks staff have quietly worked away on facilitating the the annual Fulford Country Dance, held last Friday evening at Fulford lands' transition from logging company holdings to park. Elementary School. The event, which included tasty treats an_d a silent auction, On Thursday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at Gulf Islands was a fundraiser for playground equipment at the school. PhotobyoernckLundy BURGOYNE 3 !i: J\rt§ _.. ';,c;• •c ¥:%' }; .• · ... Glassifteds:.. ~ -· .. · Editori~!) J/ . , .. ·.. Letters ~ -·; ·· ·.Pe.l1deP'' Eyewitness describes massive protest rally · Sports ... ,., ; ..... By MELISSA MOUAT pare. My friend and I arrived at the ed out with words of thanks devot · TV Listiii.gs ......... 9 Special to the Driftwood The atmosphere was like that of a legislature before the crowd from ed to those who helped organize the Union workers, seniors in crowd awaiting an anticipated Centennial Square. However, the event. Then the speeches took wheelchairs and people unrecog sports game. area was already crowded. Near place, mostly from people speaking nizable in peculiar costumes were With my camera tucked safely one edge of the lawn wen~ tents full on their union's behalf. Weather among those flocking Victoria under my jacket and my notebook · of campers who had already been But what really caught the G~t use~ to the §Ull streets and public lawns of the B.C. in hand, I allowed myself to be there for several days. , crowd's attention and raised some · :..:_ . ~nd 'cold tempera legislature building Saturday. engulfed by the swarming crowds. Away from the roads; near the noise were the sing-alongs, com tures. Sun' and a few Thousands came from all over The noi~e of aboriginal drums filled steps of the building, a crew_had set posed to the tunes of many well douds 'are forecast, B.C. to fight Premier Gordon the air, and the colours of hundreds up a large stand for the protest host known nursery rhymes.· Campbell's cuts and make their of signs filled the sky. and guest speakers. The crowd The themes of the song brought ~th possible showefs on the.\ . weekend. opinions heard. The protest was At 1 1:15 the crowd began to grew quickly, helped alpng not only to the crowd's attention the many scheduled to begin at noon, howev march towards its final destination, by the Centennial Square group but contracts Campbell had altered, the Highs to 9 C (Sunday), er, many people met in Centennial blocking off streets along the way. also by others who had parked thousands of people out of work lows to . -1 C Square, about six blocks from the Several buses had to find alternate around the downtown area. (Thursday); legislature, at around 10 a.m. to pre- routes to avoid theo ncoming mob. At noon, the show began. It start- RALLY 3 Car and Truck Sales 2440 Bevan, Sidney, BC, 655·2600 Fax 655·2615 2 ~ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2002 NEWS BEAT GULF ISLANDS DRIFTWOOD more than a tragic three the li ves of her street and-a-half-year estrange ON THE STREETS friends. ment from her daughter. "They are dying," she It became the day her life From Page 1 says angrily. "They are changed ·forever. Over the dying from homelessness, next few years she would and hoping it would net disease, drugs, suicide. I butt up against police and work through to Danielle. don't know many kids who society, look deep into the One month later, Danielle haven't slept in the same heart of street life and open called "out of the blue," ask building as a corpse." her eyes wide to a way of ing if she and a few friends Next week: the kids. life most people will never could crash at her house. see. " She arrived with six Searching for Danielle in smelly, raunchy kids. She the streets of Victoria even was skinny as hell .. they tually led to a new way of had a range of ailments from "being" for Sandie. As she malnutrition, staff infections became more familiar on and scabies . ... And they the streets, she was accept stunk." ed among those who live As the kids spread out there. And because street thei r blankets in the base • Perfect for raised beds youth in various cities net ment, Sandie told them not • Honda easy start mini 4-stroke work among themselves, to wake up her and her son. engine she maintained a link Sandie Ferguson and daughter Danielle When several attempts to between herself and her quiet them failed and the • Transport wheels standard daughter. Photo by Derrick Lundy noise didn't subside, she ran .• 4 optional attachments (digging Sandie's work with street shocked at how people dealt following Danielle's di sap down the stairs, smacked tines, aerator, dethatcher, edger) youth began while she lived with her. pearance became a time of the wall with her fist and • Convenient built-in carrying handle temporarily in Ladysmith. "It was absolutely differ self-reflection. told them to "shut the f- SAVE $50.00 I Reg $499.00 Several arrived one day on ent than how anyone else Friction with status quo up." her doorstep with Danielle, would be treated," she says, began for Sandie the first "They said to Danielle, looking for a place to stay. recalling the time two time she brushed up against 'your mom's rad;' they 'Her acceptance of them pre policemen approached her police soon after Danielle seemed surprised that I was cipitated a parade of youth and said "it's time to leave," ran away in 1995. She did n't afraid of them. They still through her homes in even though she was just not like what the Sannich talk about it." Ladysmith and Salt Spring. standing on a street corner. detachment told her: Danielle stayed for two And they took Sandie "They would never, never Danielle was over the age of days before returning to onto the streets. Dressed in do that if they thought I was 12, her name would go into Vancouver; some of the kids Pacific Standard Time - measured in feet her street garb of high-top a dental hygienist .. These a book as a runaway. And stayed on and off with sponsored by Harbours End Marine & Equipment Ltd. boots, army pants and a kids are treated horribly. nothing more would be done Sandie for five years. FEB 0555 11.2 03 0110 5.2 black "hoody" (sweatshirt "I became a peer, I was 27 1110 7.9 su 0745 11.2 They are denied access to unless she was caught in an WE 1605 10.2 1430 3.6 with a hood), she flitted in toilets in restrooms, and act of crime or attempting taken into the subculture 2300 1.6 2110 9.2 and out of the world that and learned about it .

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