Roy

Content note: This story includes mention of exposure to drug use. 

In my childhood, I had one brother and three sisters. My dad and mom are both from Fiji, and we were born there too. It was like the story of the Mother Duckling: we were so young, so wherever our parents went, we just followed them. That’s how we ended up in Canada. According to my dad, we were actually supposed to go to New Zealand or Australia, but his younger brother was already here and said, “You’re going to leave me alone too?” So my dad changed his plans and decided to come here instead.

I had a midsized family: me, my wife, and our two children. Later, I met someone else and had two more kids with her. So, in total, I have four children. I’ll be honest—I wasn’t perfect. I was a naughty boy, and some things didn’t work out. I learned from my own mistakes. What I did wasn’t nice, what I did wasn’t great. I can’t even say on tape what happened, because it’s nasty. I wasn’t thinking with my right head at that time. But despite that, my four kids are doing well. They’re very smart. One is a school teacher. One of my daughters, the younger one, is trying to become a psychologist. And my son is an electrician. They’ve made good choices in life. The life lesson I gave them is this: don’t make the same mistakes I made. Pick the right company. Don’t give in to peer pressure.

I’ve lived in Vancouver for close to 60 years, maybe a little more. In all that time, I only worked at two places. I started working at a nursing home in Calgary, and then I learned how to drive a truck. From there, my life became all about trucking. We had good days in trucking, and we had bad days. Things happen. Mostly, I felt like employers just pushed us to do more, and more, and more. It’s like putting a glass under a dripping tap—eventually, the cup overflows and I couldn’t take it anymore. So, for the last ten years of my working life, I became a methadone driver, helping people with addictions. I worked for a pharmacy.

There are so many names people use for drugs—it’ll make your mind "bagel" (boggle). When I first started, I heard someone ask another guy, “When’s your payday?” They meant welfare day. Downtown, people call it “Blood Alley.” You start learning all these names and codes, and you start to understand how things work. These people aren’t bad people. They just made bad decisions. They took a wrong turn.

I met a guy who used to work at a general hospital, making a six-figure salary: $120,000 a year. And today, he’s living downtown. Addiction got him. Sometimes, I don’t even know who to blame. The guy selling it, or the guy using it?

I had my stroke while coming home from that job. And the ironic part? The same day I had my stroke was the day Donald Trump became President of the United States in 2016. After my stroke, I asked the doctor, “What are the chances I’ll walk or drive again?” He told me, “You’ll be wheelchair-bound for the rest of your life.” But I went for a second opinion. The new doctor asked me, “What do you want to do? What’s your goal?” I said, “First, I want to get up and walk. Limping, struggling, I don’t care. I just want to move.”

In ten days, I took two steps. I don’t cry often, but that day, I cried. Because right then, I knew I would move again. In three weeks, I was climbing stairs. Holding onto the rails, but climbing. They gave me back my driver’s license, and that was the best day of my life.

I love it here now. The senior housing I live in is clean, well-maintained, and peaceful. It’s called “senior light living.” There are no fights here, no drugs. People might have one beer a year. That’s it.

To younger generations, I say: Go with your instinct. Listen to your parents. If you don’t, you’ll make a lot of mistakes. My father always said, “If you do good things, you do good. If you do bad things, you’ll pay for it.” 

I try to be helpful to people. There’s a lady here with dementia. I take her to the bank, to the store, I drive her. I help not just her, but many others too. It might take five minutes of my time, but I know I’ve done something good.