Voices From the Street: Stories, Struggles, and Calls for Change
The John Humphrey Centre’s recent session, Voices from the Street: Intersections of Identity, brought together community workers, artists, leaders, and people with lived experience of houselessness and food insecurity. What unfolded was a powerful, emotional, and deeply human conversation about survival, dignity, and pathways forward.
Below is a reflection of the gathering — highlighting the speakers, the stories they shared, and the collective calls to action that emerged.
Intersections of Identity: A Rights-Based Approach to Poverty and Justice
JHC staff shared findings from the province-wide Intersections of Identity project — an arts-based research initiative that was conducted across Alberta; exploring how poverty, racism, homelessness, and systemic barriers intersect. Research and beading circles were held in culturally rooted spaces, including Niganan Housing (Edmonton), Sunrise Youth Shelter (Grande Prairie), Rock Soup Food Bank (Wetaskiwin), Galt Gardens (Lethbridge), and Calgary public spaces.
Key issues raised by community participants included:
Inadequate or inaccessible food supports
Systemic barriers, stigma and discrimination around food insecurity
High costs of living and lack of mobility/transportation to access food supports
Shelters that feel unsafe, culturally inappropriate, or inflexible
Youth aging out of care with limited access to justice, food, and support
Participants’ shared their experiences and the words hit deeply:
“We didn’t have a meal in the house. We picked bottles just to eat.”
“Why do we have to fight for hygiene products or breakfast in high school?”
Proposed solutions for addressing food insecurity came directly from participants, and included:
1. Flexible and Barrier-Free Food Programs
2. Community-Based Food Initiatives
3. Mobile Food Distribution and Storage
4. Public Education and Stigma Reduction
5. Culturally-Informed Food Access
6. Improved Food Safety Standards
The report also highlighted Housing and Shelter Standards, emphasizing issues such as poor shelter conditions, systemic bias and discrimination, cultural insensitivity, rigid shelter rules, and lack of supports for vulnerable groups. Proposed solutions to this included: Improve shelter standards and expand shelter accessibility; increase transitional housing options; support culturally relevant services; advocacy for affordable housing, and strengthen shelter staff support.
Read the full Intersections of Identity project’s final report and watch the accompanying documentary, Intersections of Identity, produced by filmmaker Damian Abrahams, here:
Additionally, a second report from the Intersections project was released on November 20, 2025, highlighting Youth voices and both the issues and calls to action: Intersections of Identity: Youth Legal Needs Report (November 2025).
Beading Circles, Healing, and Creative Connection
Carla Rae–Taylor (Artist & Facilitator)
Carla, a longtime collaborator with JHC, visual artist, and art educator, helped shape this vision of hosting beading circles around Alberta. The goal was to create safe spaces to have really vulnerable conversations around lived experiences with the justice system, healthcare, food security, child services and shelters - informed from the perspectives of those who have experienced homelessness and racial discrimination.
Carla facilitated beading circles with both youth and adults in Edmonton and Wetaskiwin. She highlighted the remarkable model at Rock Soup Greenhouse & Food Bank in Westaskiwin, where anyone can get a warm, homemade meal with no barriers, and the need to see this kind of a beautiful, holistic and inclusive model integrated into shelters in urban Edmonton. Carla also reflected on the powerful nature of these kinds of gatherings, where folks can come together to do art, garden, cook, and grow together, nurturing the human spirit and promoting connection, care, and healing.
“...a lot of people who feel excluded, who feel disconnected, disenfranchised, living in the streets…they want to feel that sense of community. I mean, we all do.”
She and other speakers reflected on current shelter models throughout the session, and one suggestion that was brought up repeatedly is a desire to have a “teepee village”. When folks are forcibly removed from encampments, they flood healthcare and jail systems, because often there are no alternatives available. This is especially true for Indigenous folks who make up the majority of the unhoused population, so there is a need to create models of culturally grounded, warm, accessible gathering space for people currently living in encampments. The Intersections gatherings allowed folks to reimagine what we envision a shelter to be, a warm place that provides safety, community, and a culture of care at the forefront.
Carla also uplifted Pimatisiwin, one of NiGiNan’s housing sites and a culturally grounded housing program she recently supported through a community mural. Their new vending machine project — offering snacks, hygiene kits, and small essentials — now seeks donations to keep it stocked.
Lived Experience: Stories of Food, Survival, and Dignity
Kimberly, who works at NiGiNan housing, shared bravely about her own lived experience and how food becomes a matter of survival — not preference. Her reflections showcased the day to day insecurity and hunger, the shame, the loss of dignity and humanity, but also moments of care that bring hope:
“When you're houseless, you don’t think about what you want. You think about what you can get. Food stops being a choice, and it starts being a question mark. Where will my next meal come from? Will I have to wait in line for hours? Will there be enough for everyone?”
“...in the shelters…You eat what’s offered, whether it’s hot dogs for days in a row, or a soup that’s mostly broth. Sometimes you get lucky, and a community kitchen makes something warm and homemade. And for a few minutes, you feel like a human again.”
“And there’s that shame. The way people look at you when you’re hungry. Like you did something wrong for needing to eat. But hunger doesn’t care where you live. It doesn’t care if you made mistakes. You learn a lot about food when you don’t have much of it. You learn how precious it is… when someone shares half their sandwich with you. One of my best meals didn’t come from a kitchen. It came from a stranger, a woman, who stopped, sat down next to me and shared her lunch. We talked like equals. She didn’t look at me with pity, but with respect. That moment wasn’t just about food, it was about connection. Because food isn’t always about feeding the body, it’s about feeding dignity.”
“When you don’t have a home, you start to notice how food connects everything. It’s community, it’s care, it’s humanity. And when someone offers food with kindness, not charity, but care — it reminds you that you still belong somewhere.”
Kim reminded folks who are volunteering and engaging with community members, to show compassion and respect to their fellow human beings:
I’ve seen volunteers serve hundreds of meals. But the ones who look you in the eye? The ones who ask you your name? The ones who treat you like a person - those are the ones who feed more than just your hunger.
Kim emphasized the need for transitional and ongoing support, because food insecurity doesn’t end when someone gets housed. The struggle to access nutritious, healthy food remains a struggle, and community programs, food banks, community fridges, hot meals and other services are a crucial landline during this transition.
They're not just handouts, they're bridges back to stability and trust…so when you think about food, I hope you remember, it’s not just something we eat. It’s how we show care, how we build community, and how we remind each other that nobody deserves to go hungry. But it also means hope. And hope, just like food, is something that should be shared.
Tabitha, who also works at NiGiNan, shared her perspective from recovery and stable housing:
“When you do find and maintain a home that cooks you three square meals a day, supplies snacks and fruit — you feel like you have won the lottery. You then have a choice to eat or not…just having that choice means so much to someone who hasn’t had that choice for so long.”
Tabitha shared more about NiGiNan’s culturally grounded approach that emphasizes dignity and supporting recovery, keeping folks from engaging in risky behaviour, and restoring hope. She emphasized:
The importance of choice and cultural relevance, as well as patience, as many in recovery take time to build their relationship with food again.
The impact of trust built with food and acts of compassion — smiles, conversation and no judgement
The need for shelters and housing programs to provide consistent, reliable meals and snacks that accommodate dietary needs
Continuing a Legacy: Vee Duncan and Nekem: To Change Something
Kevin and Melissa spoke about the history and work of Nekem:To Change Something, who have continued to carry forward the vision and spirit of Vee Duncan — whose memory and commitment to this work has inspired the team to continue feeding the inner-city community.
Melissa reflected about first meeting Vee, and how he inspired folks through taking action:
“When I met Vee, he was not like anybody I’ve ever met. He had the biggest heart, and he definitely knew how to use his voice. What inspired me about him was that he did something, he changed something. He was just sitting there one day and decided that he’s gonna push a shopping card from Calgary to Edmonton, [to bring] awareness of homelessness.”
Vee passed away in October 2023, and the team and community of Nekem have continued to honour his legacy of bringing food and love to the community. However, keeping the work and Nekem going has not been without its challenges. Kevin and Melissa shared some of what they see as some of Nekem’s biggest challenges:
The emotional and physical toll of outreach work on volunteers and vicarious trauma
The reality of compassion fatigue and burnout
Fears of safety from volunteers leading to reluctance to do outreach work
The lack of funding and support leading to decreased capacity to supply basic needs.
Melissa spoke of how Nekem often has inner-city youth coming out to help, when many themselves are food insecure, emphasizing the need for youth and folks leaving the prison system to have opportunities in place to build capacity, life skills and mental health supports. Folks may not know how to cook, budget, do laundry, pay bills or even just be with themselves, and mentorship and community can be so important in gaining those skills.
“The inner-city youth, like, they don’t even have food at home. But the fact that they show up, and they cook with us, and they hand it out with us…they just want a sense of community and belonging. That’s what Vee brought to us.”
Nekem continues to host major community feasts, including working with local Indigenous entrepreneur Curtis Cardinal of TeePee Treats Indigenous Cuisine to host “Give Back to the Streets”, cooking 600–1000 gourmet-quality meals with volunteers. These events bring laughter, hugs, music, food and belonging to those who need it most.
Calls to Action: What Needs to Change?
During the discussion, priorities emerged from our Speakers, including:
Reimagine shelters with culturally grounded, holistic, harm-reduction spaces that keep families and pets together, foster dignity and community building, and include warm gathering areas like teepee villages.
Improve food access through community gardens, barrier-free and dignified meal programs, and provide culturally relevant, nutritious options.
Support youth early with life-skills programs, safe spaces, and cultural mentorship.
Stop clearing encampments without alternatives and provide adequate warming spaces, food, and safety.
Strengthen transportation and communication so people can reach services and know what’s available.
Support frontline workers and volunteers with mental health resources and stable funding for community-led programs.
Build trust through cultural training, collaborative approaches, and ensuring safety and autonomy for those seeking help.
Closing Reflections
As we closed the session, the facilitator shared their own personal teaching from Vee Duncan:
“When I was at a previous sharing circle with Vee, he said something that I will always carry with me. At the end of the day, those of us with privilege get to go home and close the door and feel safe, and decompress from the day and what we’ve seen or heard. But for those folks who have lived this, this is their reality, this is what they continue to live every day, and they carry that with them all the time, even when they go home at the end of the day. By truly listening with our hearts, learning from those who have shared, and working towards change, we’re honouring them and their stories, and maybe, we can carry just a tiny bit of that weight alongside them.”
This session was one of numerous sessions hosted to mobilize knowledge from the community to inform the work of the Food Security and Food Justice Edmonton Collaborative (FSFJE) supported by the City of Edmonton Community Safety and Well-Being Grant.