One year after Luke Landry died outside Moncton city hall, his mother calls for kindness
CBC
One year later, Mary MacDonald says her son's death in a public washroom outside Moncton city hall still haunts her every day.
"The image I get in the morning is him lying in a bathroom dying by himself," she said through tears. "That didn't have to happen."
MacDonald, a mother of three, feels angry her son wasn't able to find a place to sleep the night of Nov. 21. Despite many calls for action, she believes little has changed for people like Luke Landry who are struggling on the streets of Moncton.
"A lot of promises were made, I don't see the evidence of it. I believe there's still a lot of people on the street in Moncton that still won't have a place to go out of the cold and to keep them safe," she said.
The day he died, Landry, 35, was released from provincial jail with nowhere to live and no winter clothes. MacDonald sent her son $100 for a pair of jeans and boots.
That afternoon, he overdosed while at Ensemble Moncton's safe injection site.
Landry was revived by first responders, but executive director Debby Warren said no shelter would take him, and she was turned down when she called the Department of Social Development's emergency line and requested a hotel room.
Landry's death sparked urgent calls for improved resources for homeless people in the city.
A week later, the Department of Social Development sent a "tiger team" to help on the ground, and provincial and municipal officials scrambled to open an emergency shelter.
Landry's death occurred after two months of constant calls for more emergency shelter beds in Moncton.
On Wednesday, the anniversary of her son's death, MacDonald collected hats to give to the homeless on the streets of her community.
"If everybody took five minutes out of their day to say hello, say a prayer, anything is better than just looking away and criticizing."
MacDonald, who lives in Prince George, B.C., said she hopes speaking out about her son's story helps change the mindset many people have about those struggling with addiction and homelessness.
Landry was a father of two girls, a son, uncle and cousin with a large extended family in Cape Breton. He was also a musician and was well known in Moncton, where he had been living for about a decade.
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