After more than 26 private screenings with facilitated discussions, our pioneering documentary, No Fixed Address: The White Cart Memorial, is now available to the public, free of charge.
The 45-minute film centres the voices of people with lived experience of homelessness and grief and explores the importance of community remembrance. It tells the story of the White Cart Memorial, a grassroots mobile tribute honouring unhoused community members who have died. It also explores how communities come together to support people experiencing homelessness with compassion and care. The film is the result of a research partnership between the BC Centre for Palliative Care (BCCPC) and the Kelowna Homelessness Research Centre (KHRC).
Grief and homelessness:
- Grief is a universal human experience, yet for 45% of the people in our study, suffering a loss was the catalyst for becoming homeless.
- In BC, there are more than 25,000 people who experience homelessness each year, and they have no place to grieve quietly, privately, or safely.
- The ability to have memorials is limited for this population. Community memorials are a simple way to honour loss in this community and can have a positive impact on their grief and the community.
- Many frontline service providers experience their own grief when a client dies.
Learn more
Additional information about the documentary, related research and resources can be found at
whitecart.ca.
Acknowledgements
This film has been funded in part by contributions from Health Canada, Health Care Policy and Strategies Program through the Pan-Canadian Palliative Care Research Collaborative Seed Funding program, the Kelowna Homelessness Research Centre through the University of British Columbia Okanagan Eminence program, and BC Centre for Palliative Care. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of those who funded the project.
The project team extends thanks to videographer Paul Cotton of Paul Cotton Films, the many team members at KHRC and BCCPC who contributed over the years, peer researcher Sherry Landry, the Lived Experience Circle on Homelessness, and all individuals who generously shared their stories and experiences to shape the film. Additionally, the BCCPC and KHRC would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the Vancouver Foundation, the Community Action Initiative, and all participating communities for their support in funding and organizing the film screening events. These screenings have helped raise awareness of the film and its message, reaching far more people than we could have anticipated.
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