I am 25 years old, currently in Vancouver Canada. I am a former youth in government care, was homeless for 9 years
across Canada, and I am a torture and suicide survivor. I tried to move to Israel last year but was denied entry for no reason and was
held in a detention camp and physically tortured for 4 days before being sent back to Geneve (I went through Manchester and Geneva to get to Tel Aviv, total cost for Vancouver Canada to Tel Aviv was $565), where I had the time of my life and felt so at home that I didn't want to leave. My primary goal is to pay off debts, get out of poverty forever, and leave for Europe for a while, backpacking, working on organic farms, lots of partying around the continent, and meeting new people and building community for myself which I've never had here in Canada. I have no criminal record, and to this day have used no illicit drugs, no alcohol, no nicotine, no marijuana and not a single cup of coffee in my entire life, save a glass of champagne on NYE when I was living with my biological family.
When I was homeless here in Canada, I saw children commit suicide, I attempted suicide many times and survived, and I slept on the streets and in shelters across Canada. A lot of people in this country don't care about poverty and homelessness, they only care about the financials, "the economy", which is why most of them voted in the last federal election for the Conservatives, who recently removed offical oversight of the dometic spy agency CSIS (Canadian Security and Intelligence Service), as well as flat out abandoned the poor and dispossesed and are leaving them to their own devices. I know the health care system very well, as well as child and adult welfare, shelters and social services across the country, and have met a lot of police officers, paramedics and social service workers over the years, both in Canada and in Switzerland.
So after years of poverty and destitution, no community, no supports and no life, last year I attempted to
immigrate to Israel (I am Jewish). When I was in Geneva/Geneve, I gotta tell you, within days I felt like I was one of the locals,
I very quickly became familiar with the social customs and way of being, I never felt so at home somewhere.
I was without any money, and therefore (as well as not knowing French and not being able to find work) I asked
the Canadian government to get me back to Canada, and so I was repatriated on June 4th of last year. The
amount of money the federal govt spent on it is a debt of $2050 (airfare + financial assistance to live in Geneve until
repatriation) that I have to pay back, and they are holding my passport until I pay it back. The good news was that
until June 4th of this year, as the feds bought roundtrip tickets, the return portion was good until June 4th and
wound've cost only the change fee of 200 Swiss Francs (about $223CDN), if I could pay off the debt.
When I got back, I was homeless on arrival and went through massive, massive re-entry shock. Almost everyone didn't
care that I was tortured and lucky to be alive, and so I got no help and no supports, had to go through shelters, got
beaten and assaulted quite often, and only recently got into subsidized social housing (rent @ $375/month) here in
Vancouver. Not only do people here not care about victims of rape and torture, but I got spat on, assaulted and beaten
oftentimes just being on the bus and walking on the streets in cities across Canada, from Winnepeg to Vancouver.
I wasn't able to find a way to pay off the debt by June 4th of this year, but cheap tickets are available to get
to Europe (canadianaffair.ca + low budget airlines in Europe, which is what I did last year).
The response from my biological family to me being tortures was "we don't care, you are causing us stress so screw
you." That has been the typical response that I've gotten in Canada, all a buch of dead people, so screw them,
let them die, I want out, to look after myself and get out of here forever!
So first off, I have done the impossible and survived thigns most people can't survive, seen things most people
haven't seen, and I'm telling you, the only obstacles to success in life are the obstacles in your mind, your
belief systems, period. There are no excuses, no excuses whatsoever to not getting things together and getting out of here ASAP
forever.
If you have any questions, let me know. Looking forward to contributing and learning from other people here
.