My son and I moved to Squamish in 2005, when I had just left my marriage and was on welfare for a few months. Then I started working, first for Greg Gardner, then I eventually I scored a great job running the concrete batch plant at tunnel point on the sea to sky for Kiewit. Later I became a tunnel-boring machine operator for Frontier Kemper Ashlu Creek Hydro Electric Project.
That’s when my life changed forever.
I was in a train collision and derailment ended up fighting the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) for the next six years. When I finally received a little bit of money from WCB and after living in Squamish for 10 years (the longest I had lived anywhere in my life), I looked for property to buy. All I could afford was a little apartment or townhouse.
I suffer from PTSD and major depression, not to mention chronic pain from the train wreck, and I have three dogs that are my life now, so I needed land of some sort.
Long story, but I eventually bought a wonderful half-acre with a cute house in Vernon. My dogs are happy, so I am too.
Unfortunately I no longer have my whole support system in Squamish, where I wish I still lived. I love Squamish. People there know me, the “me” before the train wreck, the person I was who took every opportunity Squamish offered and made a great life for my son and me.
I wish I could have bought there. My mortgage is with Squamish Savings, though, so I guess I’m still supporting Squamish.
Thank you for this opportunity to tell my housing story.
Tanys Braun
Vernon, B.C.
