Life in a Box
-
- Claude lives in the darkness of a shipping container.
-
- Claude’s container sits in a row of containers in a lot behind older industrial building in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Canada.
-
- The container opens up to this open parking lot of garbage containers, transport trucks and other waste.
-
- Early morning after having slept outside on a warm fall evening, Claude plays with his dog Rita.
-
- Empty beer cans pile up next to the patio. Claude claims he drink 40 to 50 beers a day.
-
- Claude visits regularily La Congregation des Soeurs de la Charite, a congregation of nuns where he can get a free meals when times get tough.
-
- Some meals are cooked at home on a hotplate.
-
- Basic Toiletry is done in a nearby warehouse.
-
- An early morning walk to the convenience store to buy beers and cigarettes.
-
- In Quebec, beer is purchased at a convenience store where Claude is a regular client.
-
- Back to the container with a six pack.
-
- Lighting up a cigarette in the darkness of the container.
-
- With the help of a friend, a scavenged living room chair is wheeled back to the container.
-
- …then carried inside.
-
- Veteran Claude Lord likes to share a laugh…
-
- …but a times gets emotional, especially when thinks back to his brief military career.
-
- t the age of 19 when a members of the an explosion at Valcartier killed two of his comrades and wounded several others.
-
- Claude has been assisted by the federal government under a program aimed at getting ex-military personnel off the streets. He now gets a pension.
-
- Friends come to visit at all hours. Now that he receives a pension from the Armed Forces, hangers-on come visit to borrow money but never pay it back.
-
- …but many nights are spent alone with Rita.
-
- A wood-burning stove to keep warm.
-
- As winter approaches, it is time to start bundling up.
-
- Rummaging through documents prior to heading out to look at a house to rent in hope of not having to spend another winter in the container.
-
- Claude has been looking to rent an affordable house outside the city. He hopes to leave the container and start a new life.
paul chiasson 