Chaz Smith remembers being homeless, and the awful foreboding when the snow came, the temperatures plunged and the very drugs holding him in thrall became the rescue line keeping him alive.
"Your immediate concern was obviously that it's cold, you're going to freeze and die outside when temperatures drop," Smith, who is now an outreach worker, said in an interview.
Smith, now 35, was a teen when he lived on Calgary’s streets. He said when the ice came, he and his friends became heat seekers — parkades, shopping malls, transit buses, train stations.
"In your mind, you're trying to figure out where all the warming spaces are that you can get in to," he said. "When it's that cold, it hits -20 C, -30 C, I did use substances in order to stay awake, wrapped myself in blankets, try and find heated parkades.”
He said the drug use – especially the stimulants – rises, “so people can stay awake and keep walking and keep moving because as soon as you stop, that's when things get dire."
Smith is the founder of BeTheChangeYYC street outreach group, providing food, water, blankets, hygiene supplies, tents and tarps three nights a week in the city's downtown.
For the 60,000 Canadians who are homeless, this is the start of the deadliest time of year.
A point-in-time enumeration in 74 communities across Canada in 2024 found the number of the unhoused has nearly doubled over the past six years. More and more are living in unsheltered locations such as encampments.
Health Canada says between 2011 and 2023, there were almost 1,700 cold-related deaths in Canada — about 129 deaths per year. More than two-thirds were men.
During that time, there were well over 9,000 cold-related hospitalizations.
"The weather and everything else can be quite dangerous no matter what time of year, but winter gets especially challenging," said Tim Richter, the president and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.
"It's really horrific what happens in our community that people just don't see. It's an unnatural disaster because it's not created by nature and is bigger and more expensive."
The Calgary Homeless Foundation, the city of Calgary and more than 20 partner organizations started the annual extreme weather response. It provides seasonal day spaces, overnight transportation to emergency shelters and critical winter supplies.
Help during the day is critical, as those on the streets can stay in a shelter overnight, said Bo Masterson, with the Calgary Homeless Foundation. Masterson said the program is saving lives and many of the unhoused have registered and are waiting for housing.
There are similar programs in Winnipeg and Toronto, but Richter said it's not enough.
"Unless we get serious about providing deeply affordable housing quickly, we're just going to continue pouring money into these emergency responses as the problem gets worse and worse," he said.
Shaundra Bruvall is with Alpha House, which operates a shelter, detox housing and outreach programs. Bruvall said street teams try to build trust with clients and convince them to get shelter when it's needed, helping those who don’t realize the cold could be making them their own worst enemy.
"Where addiction is present, people don't always know that they're in danger," Bruvall said. "Their bodies maybe aren't showing the signs because of their intoxication levels, so hypothermia is a real risk — and it doesn't even have to be that cold."
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said homelessness, crime, mental health and addiction is a nuanced and complex topic. He said the problem will continue to be monitored and it's a conversation that needs to be held with the non-profit sector as well as the provincial government.
"The city can't go it alone on this one," he told reporters last week. "I will strongly advocate for the city to do its part and for the province to step up, too."
Back at BeTheChangeYYC, Smith said, in the meantime, his organization will continue to help. They assisted more than 19,000 people last year.
And for Smith, it’s personal.
"I think the one fear I have is ever becoming homeless again," he said.
"That would terrify me."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
