Two severe social problems co-habit the corner George Street and Third Avenue in the centre of Prince George, B.C.: poverty and drug addiction. A few Christian people are gathering at the corner to establish a ministry called the First Nation Fire. They are using a drop-in centre located in the midst called the Firepit. Reverend Louis Paquette is the minister at the centre of establishing this difficult ministry.
"We see all kinds of people, 80 people came in Friday night," said Rev. Louis. These are tough street hardened people. They are scraping for hits of crack; they are sometimes desperate people, Rev. Louis said, but they take care of each other. When it comes to social settings like the ministry in the Firepit, "They are totally nice people who come in to show respect for the Lord in that place. Despite all the drugging and all poverty they try hard, and they are pretty afflicted so it's a big effort."
"I lived here all my life," he said, when the Paquette family moved to Prince George from the prairies in 1950. "I've been with the ministry since 1980 and I was ordained in the last two years." For people who are unaware of the situation in downtown Prince George and a neck of neighbourhood called the 'hood, well, it's pretty rough.
"We kind of come from a life like that," said Louis, "and I see more love from the people and more Christian attributes in the Firepit. These people are true to themselves. They come with no bull stories. They come with all their sins I feel like I am touching lives in a big way."
The First Nations Fire ministry meets the people who live in modest rooming houses and clapboard apartments and the half-dozen homeless shelters in the immediate area. "We feed them with the gospel and then we share a meal with the gathering at 8 P.M. Through the Christmas holiday we host turkey dinners on Friday night."
The Firepit location offers a street-front drop-in centre in the middle of the city's difficult poverty and drug issues. "We play music and I am lucky because I come from a family of 18 and half of us are musically inclined. We have my friend Goochie sing and play, and my sisters play harmony, and my friend Randy Dakota helps me set up and he plays guitar and sings. Sometimes the people in the crowd want to come up and sing. We get close to some of these people."
"My wife Eileen is a faith wife and we have three boys," and Rev. Louis explained. For the past couple of weeks Louis was feeling a bit under the weather. "I felt bad and stomach ache and it seemed like I had a gut ache all the time. They checked me out and said the ensymes in my heart went up. They figured I had a mild heart attack and they took me to Vancouver."
They were going to put a stent into the heart "but they couldn't get in through my groin since main artery changed because I've been in a wheelchair for so long." How did Louis Paquette end up in a wheelchair?
"I was mistaken for somebody else in 1973 and I was caught in a conflict over a pool game. I was same height and build as another guy at the Columbus Hotel one night." He was shot with a 303 rifle and hit in the neck and spine.
"For the first 10 years it was touch and go to accept it. I was in long bouts of suicide, you know, trying to drink yourself to death. When your whole life changes in one second it is frustrating and I became discouraged."
Then it changed equally suddenly, "I found the Lord and I forgave the man and I am totally changed. I find a new way to do things. I do it a little slower. I adapted and I feel good about life. People pay attention to my message. But I will say having a heart attack was humbling.
"All the good work the Lord goes to your head. God has kept me humble because I want to be a part of what God is doing." The First Nation Fire Ministry has long term plans, and we want our own building. First Nation Fire will be open to all, everybody welcome, non-denominational. We want to help First Nation people because we are First Nations ourselves."
The people hanging around the Firepit on the corner of George and Third are about half First Nation and half non-Native. "It's the exact site for the kind of work we do, and we have the Friday night ministry. We can have Tuesday as well for an evening Bible study."
Louis said they can have any night they want, and there are other ministries in town reaching into the streets. "We can have any night we choose in the Firepit. We are working with other ministries to avoid conflicts in timing. The Firepit drop-in centre is open four hours a day for AIDS counselling and they serve a lunch at 2:30 P.M.. Our ministry 6 to 9 P.M. and in the winter it gets pretty cold, like -17 plus the wind chill."
That drives the street people in the door. Louis will get a Bible study underway shortly, this winter 2008/09, to get more in depth. "I think they need to hear more and get to know the Lord closer."
