N.W.T. man home for Christmas after 10 years on streets of Edmonton

It was an emotional day at the Inuvik airport Monday as a man who spent much of the past 10 years living on the streets of Edmonton arrived back in the N.W.T. to spend Christmas with his family.

Albert Koe left Fort McPherson about 15 years ago following an assault charge that sent him to jail.

"I went to prison, and I got out, and I just never went back," he said.

Instead, he spent much of the past decade drinking, spending time in jail and generally struggling to get his life together. Koe went to school briefly. Later he met his wife.

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"We had our own home. But the addiction I have here, I drink on the streets. When I didn't go home, I'd stay downtown for a week or two [and], like, drink with the guys. So I fell back into it."

His wife died several years ago, leaving Koe alone again.

"After my wife passed away, everything just went downhill from there. I just went back to the alcoholism and back on the street. Went down for treatment a couple times. That didn't last too long, but I just kept trying and trying."

New home, new phone to reach family

Koe said he's sober now, has an apartment and is trying his hand at carving. He credits Boyle Street Community Services in downtown Edmonton for lending him a hand.

"I never had a phone before, but since I had this place, they hooked me up with a cable company. I got a phone now, so that's how I start keeping in touch with my family."

That reconnection, and Koe's attempt to turn his life around, was the subject of a recent story on APTN.

When the story aired, someone from Primco Dene, a mining camp service company owned by the Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta, noticed he was wearing one of their caps. Company employees stepped forward to offer him a plane ticket.

Before his arrival Monday, Koe was nervous. Though he does have a brother and sister in Edmonton, he said it's been many years since he's seen his whole family.

"My daughter, when I left … [they] were all just young kids. Now they're all grown up, and my daughter is a mother now and I got these two little grandchildren."

Whole family waiting

William Koe drove up the Dempster Highway on Monday to meet his brother at the airport Monday and bring him home.

"The whole family was just waiting when we got here," William said.  

William said he worried about his brother for several years, making efforts to bring him home and once traveling to Edmonton to look for him.

"Everybody was worried about him," William said. "He was a spoiled little guy when he was young, so everybody got to know him. And he's a real avid fiddler player, you know. He can play a lot of the old time music like my dad.

"It came to a point where we totally lost control of him. We knew he was in Edmonton, but it's so hard to find people down there."

'I'll make it work'

William said he'll support his brother in whatever way he can over the next few weeks, including helping him steer clear of drugs and alcohol.

"People are slowing down right now because of holidays and families and that," he said. "So there will be a little bit of time with him and he wants to go out on the land — so that's what we'll do with him."

After the holiday, Albert plans to return to Edmonton and continue being involved with the Boyle Street Community Services.

"I'm working on sort of stuff like that, and trying to slowly get back on track with my life. I'll make it work. That's all I can say."