Age: 38
From: Quebec
Chantal has lived in a squat, lived outside, and inside the Empress.
She is a Christian, and has been using drugs since she was 12 years old. She also started table dancing then. “My life is so shitty; I’m on methadone, although lots of people give me drugs. I’m a binner.”
She had planned to be a nun until she and her brother were raped by a priest, she said.
“One day my father would say I was a good girl, and the next day I was bad, then my brother committed suicide and my dad died.”
“Life on methadone is very hard; it’s easy to get food though. Drug treatment programs and the safe injection site create jobs for straight people. Safe injection is not a good idea.”
“Of course I’ll get off drugs, I’m finding myself, and I don’t want to do drugs. My feet come here, not my heart, I don’t want to be here, I’m working as an outreach worker. As far as young people go you have to accept them as they are.
“There is the Lord, the Lord is good, and the Lord is the provider. The key is accepting me as I am and knowing the Lord.”