Squamish Helping Hands Society is bringing a documentary screening to town to help raise awareness about chronic homelessness.
Directed by Canadian filmmakers Krista Loughton and Jennifer Abbott, Us And Them was filmed over a decade and explores the lives of four chronically homeless people struggling with addiction.
The film is touring Canada to generate compassionate discussion about housing and addiction.
The Squamish screening will take place Thursday, June 14 at the Squamish United Church on Fourth Avenue at 6:30 p.m. Tickets will be available online prior to the event, at squamishhelpinghands.ca.
Helping Hands is preparing to begin construction on Under One Roof, a new 9,000-square-foot facility that will offer housing, centralized health and recovery services, access to food, an emergency bed shelter and support services. Executive director Maureen Mackell said she hopes the film screening will inspire conversations around the topic in Squamish.
“We think this powerful film is a great opportunity to continue the conversation about the role of Under One Roof in our community and to launch our Community Advisory Committee,” said Mackell in a release.
“We hope this screening will also inspire an ongoing conversation about the kind of community we want to hold onto as we grow, that sense of neighbourliness that can and should define us a community and set us apart as a diverse and tolerant place to call home,” she said.
Filmmaker Krista Loughton will join at a panel discussion after the screening with Mayor Patricia Heinzman and John Matthews of Matthews Southwest/Squamish Cornerstone Developments.
