A group of Kamloops Blazers toured around Vancouver's Downtown Eastside on Monday (Image Credit: Kamloops Blazers)

By Chad Klassen

PROJECT EDGE

Blazers come away with ‘eye-opening’ experience from trip to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Sep 11, 2019 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Blazers goaltender Rayce Ramsay couldn’t believe what he saw when walking Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Hundreds of homeless people, open drug use, and a number of heartbreaking stories that really left an impression on the Saskatoon native.

“Just the amount of people that are down there, the environment they’re living in,” said Ramsay. “Just how many people are there is crazy. It was really eye-opening.”

Ramsay was taking part in Project EDGE, which sees the Blazers tour the Downtown Eastside and meet some of the street-entrenched people.

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He distinctly remembers meeting a grandmother who came from a well-off family, but ended up on the Downtown Eastside.

“She never got into alcohol or drugs or anything. She had a lot going for her, and just one bad decision and all of a sudden her life went downhill,” said Ramsay. “She lost her family, she lost her daughter and granddaughter. Her life spiralled just from one bad decision.”

Project EDGE has been running for the last 12 years. With an RCMP escort, six players, head coach Shaun Clouston, and GM Matt Bardsley got to meet some of the homeless population.

The one thing the group came away with was how anyone can end up down that path.

“A lot of people we talked to come from a good life and one bad turn takes them the wrong way,” said forward Connor Zary. “They’re homeless now. They don’t have much money. They have to do bad things to either get their money or their drugs. It’s unfortunate.”

Clouston got his first look at the situation on East Hastings, which has only worsened since the opioid crisis. A few people’s stories popped out at the 51-year-old coach during the visit.

“There was a 44-year-old lady named Chyna that started out as a dealer and had everything going great and then started using and ended up down there,” said Clouston. “There was a 27 year old. I think his name was Alec. He seemed like a regular guy. He seemed like a guy that could’ve grown up anywhere. He started using a little bit of marijuana and then progressed and gradually ended up using harder drugs.”

Clouston says the experience made everyone thankful for where they are in their lives.

“For a lot of people, there was some gratitude for where were are compared to the conditions those people are experiencing,” he said. “The goal, as it was explained by the police officers, they believe a major part of the solution is education.”

Like they do every year, the players will take the people’s stories and what they learned to Kamloops schools throughout the year. They hope they can reach young people and prevent them from making that one life-changing mistake.