William and Kate visit pregnancy outreach centre in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

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Janice Seward was hanging out in the Downtown Eastside, doing a lot of drugs and drinking too much, when she found out she was pregnant. That’s when she turned to Sheway, a pregnancy outreach program for women struggling with substance abuse.

Stories like hers are what attracted the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to East Hastings Street on Sunday morning. As the royal couple made their whirlwind tour through Vancouver they stopped into Sheway to meet a handful of young moms, including Seward and her two-month-old son, Jordan.

“Sheway means a lot to me,” Seward said. “They’re a big support. They help you with your recovery and they make sure if you’re using that you’re OK with it, but I quit everything when I was pregnant and I’m going on 12 months clean.”

She was too shy to say much more than a quiet “hi” to the royal couple, but like the other mothers there, was proud to show off her progress.

Some royal watchers were waiting outside the building at 7 a.m. for a visit that wasn’t scheduled until four hours later, but it wasn’t hard to find a spot to see William and Kate in the relatively small crowd. Faces filled the windows of the surrounding SROs as neighbours waited to catch a glimpse of the famous pair.

“We’re very lucky,” said Syd Benjamin, who managed to secure a front-row spot. “Most times when you come to these events, people use binoculars.”

When the duke and duchess finally arrived, they had only a few brief moments to shake hands before rushing inside, where they interacted with the moms and their children in a play area. Later, they spoke to the women over tea and scones, and heard emotional stories from some of the indigenous mothers about the lingering impacts of colonialism and residential schools on their lives.

“A lot of mothers do get their children taken away from them. We’re lucky to have our kids in our arms right now,” Cameo Hydrochuk told reporters after the visit.

William shook the tiny hand of Hydrochuk’s three-month-old Jasmine as she was being weighed.

“They talked to us just like I was a normal person. I didn’t feel stereotyped or anything. They were amazing,” Hydrochuk said. 

Jaimie Poulin described the royal couple as beautiful people who seemed genuinely interested in learning about Sheway and the mothers it has helped.

“They were very relaxed and just so calm. It was really nice to see it. There wasn’t an uncomfortableness about it,” she said.

Poulin was living on the streets before she came to Sheway, and said she wouldn’t have her two daughters still living with her without it.

“It gave me the support and everything I needed to become the mother that I am today, she said.

blindsay@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/bethanylindsay