More South Asian men living on Surrey streets: Urban Mission

SURREY (NEWS1130) – Surrey is seeing an increase in middle-aged to senior South Asian men who are living on the streets according to one outreach worker.

Jonquil Hallgate with the Surrey Urban Mission says she particularly notices it in North Surrey and that includes the number of people who are using the services offered by her group. She says most of the men are facing addiction issues.

“It’s a trend that has sort of been growing over the last few years. Five years ago it wasn’t noticeable,” says Hallgate.

She says she’s been told by volunteers that addiction isn’t something that was previously talked about much in the Punjabi community. “Now it’s something that’s emerging because people are starting to recognize that there’s an issue here and it’s changing how families are doing things.”

Family Counsellor Kuldip Gill says in the past, shame and stigma have prevented families from breaking up due to abuse or addiction. “It was a patriarchal society where it was very difficult to get men removed from the home because they had some sort of financial or patriarch power. Whereas now it is shifting. Perhaps the matriarchs are getting the support they needed.”

She says people are now more inclined to do what’s better for the whole family and sometimes that’s at the risk of someone being removed. A few generations ago, she says, they would have put up with it.

“And also I think people are just wanting to be healthier overall for their children and to have healthier marriages,” says Gill.