It would be nearly impossible to miss Bruce Boyko and his one-person encampment at the top of Wyndham Street North in downtown. For the past couple weeks, he’s been living on the ledge outside Guelph Concert Theatre – sleeping in a cardboard refrigerator box and avoiding frostbite (hopefully) with the use of a portable propane heater.
Service providers know he’s there, as do local politicians and the public has certainly seen him. But why has he chosen such a visible spot, why not stay in a shelter or one of the tented cities around town? There’s help available, if he wants it.
We at GuelphToday were curious, so we asked him. We weren’t determined to write an article about it at the time, we just needed to know.
I stopped by to chat with Bruce late-morning on a cold day, as he was warming his hands over the heater. After introducing myself and explaining I’m a reporter, he graciously agreed to talk and let me take some photos.
Bruce openly shared details about how it came to be that he’s homeless, why he opted to decline a hotel room offered to him via the shelter system, and what led him to that specific location.
The reason … or rather reasons: It’s close to where he receives meals at Royal City Mission, provides a cover for shelter from rain/snow and at least partially blocks the wind, and it forces people to see that homelessness exists in the city – as he put it, it’s not hidden away out of site.
Though our conversation lasted only about 20 minutes, my hands and face stung from the cold. It’s virtually impossible to write with gloves on – at least if you ever want to read what you put down – so my hands were exposed.
Bruce noticed me rubbing them in an effort to get them functioning again and offered to let me put my hands over his heater. Knowing I was fortunate enough to be heading back to my car shortly and could crank the heat there, I thanked him and declined.
It was truly a pleasure speaking with Bruce that morning and I certainly tried my best to tell his story fairly and accurately to how he presented it.
