A Tribute To Courage To Come Back Award Recipient Trisha Baptie

It all began in 2000. Through a street outreach team associated with Union Gospel Mission in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver I met Trish Baptie when she was a prostitute.

After 15 years of Trish working on the streets, she and I connected over a simple cup of hot chocolate and a discussion of her tattoos and piercings. Whether we were hanging out at the Ivanhoe Pub or playing with her kids, admiration and love came easily.

We had arranged to meet and hang out on a Friday evening that week. However, when Friday night came and I phoned her apartment I was told the first time that she was in the shower, and the other times I just got the answering machine.

Understandably I was disappointed; I really wanted to see her. But not willing to give up so easily, my friend and I decided to drive around looking for her. In the end we found ourselves wandering into the Ivanhoe Pub. It is not the most savoury of institutions, but I knew it was a place that she could be found from time to time and so we thought we should at least take a look.

Upon entering we suddenly found ourselves very out of place. My Trinity sweater and my friend’s ponytail did not help us much there. The light glowed dimly through the smoke from the lamps suspended by chains from the ceiling. In the corner of the bar there was a strobe light and some music from the 70s and 80s playing, to which several couples where dancing drunkenly.

Couples were clustered along the fringes with constellations of empty glasses around them. There was a heavy weight of despair in the air that seemed somehow associated with the old orange carpet that blanketed the floor.