A homeless man who outreach workers said struggled with addictions for many years was found dead Tuesday evening along the Coquitlam River.
While Coquitlam RCMP have not confirmed the cause of death, a spokesperson said the death does not appear to be suspicious and the investigation is ongoing. Police would not release the man’s name and are waiting for a coroner investigation to determine the exact cause of death.
“It is sad,” said Rob Thiessen, the managing director of homeless outreach group the Hope for Freedom Society. “I never get used to it.”
He added that the man, who was in his 50s, had been in contact with his organization over the years and even recently visited one of his coordinators to wish her well after she was involved in a car accident.
But Thiessen said he was “hard to house” and did not show much interest in getting off the streets, despite the willingness of outreach workers to help him make the move indoors.
“He has been homeless for as long as we can recall,” Thiessen said, noting the society has been operating in the Tri-Cities since 2006.
He later added: “Based on the fact that we hadn’t had any results — and I know how hard our people try to do that — we didn’t get anything positive.”
Hope for Freedom outreach workers are in constant contact with the homeless community, Thiessen said, and are available to provide support for people who may have been close to the deceased man.
Sometimes a tragedy can have the effect of encouraging others to get off the streets, he said, although not everyone will see this week’s death as a sign that it is time to make some changes.
“Unfortunately, some of them will go on a big binge,” he said. “That is one of the very common things. When tragedy occurs, they have masked every emotion so they just mask it more.”
Thiessen noted that this week’s incident brings to mind the death of Irvin Wickens, a homeless man who passed away near a busy intersection on Shaughnessy Street in Port Coquitlam a week before Christmas in 2010. Wickens was considered hard to house and struggled with addiction issues. He had also refused shelter many times over his 25 years on the streets.
