This young man was kind of pretty great. He had a very familiar face but insisted I protected his anonymity so of course I did. He's really nice and really great. This is his story 

 1. What’s your name & age I’m Andre Catalan. But with a “C” I’m 18

2. Were you raised in a religious house hold?  No, not with my parents.  They were complete hippies. If anything I was taught about reincarnation and that kind of f*ck

3. How long have you been homeless? (laugh) whoa, sh*t. There isn’t a specific date or whatever. Um… I guess a little after the semester started.  My parents had an apartment but we’d on weekends, we’d spend the entire day in the park. That’s cool. Yeah, it really was. They’re on the street to I guess.  

4. Do you have any siblings or close relatives? I’m pretty cool with my sister. I don’t see often. She wasn’t down with the lifestyle, I guess. She’s got an apartment in Westmount.  

5. What area do you prefer to stay in? I like to hang out in Mont- Royal. The park is so awesome and I have a shed there. Also in homeless shelters… but only when the holiday hype goes down. Around Christmas and sh*t.

6. What is the general response you get from people regarding your appearance?  People often assume I’m an idiot. (laugh) I’m actually pretty smart… for the most part (laugh).  Of course I look dirty; I haven’t showered in like 2 weeks.

7. Are you religious?  No… I think religion is the sort of thing you need parents to get into. My parents didn’t know much about it.   

8. How did you become homeless?  Uh well, um... I went to a pretty okay high school, you know. There was a lot of bullying and a lot of bad things going on. But I did okay, I think. I had average, or above average grades.  But the last semester in my final year I pretty much gave up. I didn’t care about anything. I was really upset… Do you mind if I ask why? Not at all, people started to find out about my parents. As you know, they were hippies and it wasn’t a good school, so, of course I was made fun of and it wasn’t great. I didn’t get much support from my parents. They, of course would say thing like forgive them, it’ll be okay and sh*t like that. Anyway, I had to go to a sh*t cegep and it sucks because we don’t have a lot of money. My books cost like 950$ and for tuition and sh*t… we couldn’t afford it so I sold my apartment for some money.  

9. Do you visit any programs to help the homeless? If so do they help? Yeah I mean, sometimes. It really sucks because they’re not good help when you actually need it.

10. Do you have any plans for the future? Yeah actually, I’ll be living here for the next year or so. I’ll work on the side. I have a job at McDonald’s and at Couche-Tard. I’ll save money and shit until I have enough for books and school tuition.