Workshop tackles the questions you have — but don't know who to ask — about homelessness in Windsor

A workshop will be held Wednesday evening to help give Windsor residents the necessary tools on how to interact with people experiencing homelessness.

Organized by the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative (DWCC), the workshop will be held at the Windsor Media Arts Community Centre at 664 Victoria Avenue from 5 to 7 p.m.

Bob Cameron, DWCC executive director, said the workshop — titled Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Homelessness But Didn't Know Who to Ask — will discuss the right way to engage someone on the streets and how to interact with them.

"We want to address concerns like relieving fear, but definitely relieving the stigma that's often attached with being on the streets," Cameron said.

Cameron said a DWCC team called Streetlight has spent the last couple of years engaging people on the street with the primary idea of being curious and understanding people's stories. 

Team members will share "practical tools of what we've learned on how to engage and understand the stories," he said.

Additionally, Cameron said about 12 agencies will have speakers at the event, and people will have an opportunity to  interact with representatives of Windsor police, the health unit, the Canadian Mental Health Association, among others.

You never know what's going on

Windsorite John Labutte is experiencing homelessness. Asked what he wants people to know,  he says you never really know what's going on with someone else.

"People are always worried about their own stuff, you know, holding on to something like a bag for an example, because it could have something really important to them. But there are people that would assume, 'oh, there's dope in there.'" 

Labutte said the bag he carries contains personal effects, like a photograph of family members he can look at from time to time, because he has not seen them in person for a long time.

Hope Cameron said one of her biggest needs, especially during the winter month, is to be able to get a warm drink sometimes.

"The warm drink and stuff, the soup is really what's healing especially in the winter time, and just having a warm meal … I just wish we had more of that around."

'There are incredible resources out there'

Meanwhile, the DWCC executive director said the workshop will also provide attendees with the necessary information on how to refer people. 

"There are incredible resources out there, but we as a community, as neighbours, most often are unfamiliar with what they are," he said.

"So this evening provides an opportunity for us to get the resources so when I meet someone on the street, [if] the question comes up, I know how to at least direct them and begin to develop a relationship, realizing this person is a valued person as much as I am, and relieving my worries or fears of the interaction.

"To be able to approach someone and acknowledge their dignity and their humanity just relieves the tension of the uncertainty on both sides of the sidewalk," he added.

He said there's been "an incredibly great response already for folks who have registered in advance" for the free workshop.