Inquest shines light on life and death of homeless man
Father of 3 projected a cheery persona, even while living in poverty
Before his death in a fire on a frigid January night in 2015, Grant Faulkner subsisted on meager social assistance payments and slept rough in tents, homeless shelters and at the home of his on-again-off-again girlfriend as he tried to find stable housing and get a job.
The details of Faulkner’s precarious life were examined in a coroner’s courtroom Monday during the first day of an inquest focused on the Toronto man’s death more than three years ago.
Faulkner was 49 when he died after his plywood shelter behind a Scarborough business caught fire.
This inquest and another — an investigation into the death of Brad Chapman was set for July but has been delayed — are the first in more than a decade to focus on deceased homeless individuals who lived in Toronto.
The five-person jury gathered Monday at the Forensic Services and Coroner’s Complex in Toronto’s north end heard that a pathologist had determined Faulkner died of smoke inhalation.
“I must say thankfully he died of smoke inhalation because I think it would have been much worse if he had been burned to death,” Prabhu Rajan, counsel for the coroner, told the inquest.
“We should all be shocked and appalled that this happened to Grant. Not just that he died this way but in the way he was living, which contributed to the way he died.”
The inquest heard how Faulkner, a father of three girls who became homeless after losing his job at an automotive parts manufacturer, projected a cheery persona to outreach workers and friends — all the while living on as little as $220 in social assistance payments per month as he struggled to find a home and stable employment.
“No matter what was going on in his life, he could always find humour,” said Father John Stephenson, former rector of Scarborough’s St. Timothy’s Anglican Church, and one of five witnesses to testify Monday.
Stephenson told the jury he got to know Faulkner as one of the many homeless individuals to come through the church’s doors on Wednesdays for its breakfast and lunch programs. Such was the lack of resources for the homeless in Scarborough at the time that some guests would walk for three hours to come and eat, Stephenson testified.
“(Grant) was the kind of guy you could sit down and have a beer with because he was fun,” Stephenson recalled, describing Faulkner as “his own man” who avoided Toronto’s network of homeless shelters following an altercation at a downtown shelter in which someone tried to pull his boots off his feet as he slept.
Aplace of sanctuary for Faulkner and others was a small encampment tucked behind a yard owned by Dufferin Concrete on McCowan Rd. near Sheppard Ave.
The encampment, consisting of two shacks made of plywood and wood pallets, belonged to another homeless man who is not expected to testify.
“They could go there and have peace,” Stephenson said.
Faulkner was sleeping as the temperature dipped as low as -12 C on the night of Jan. 13, 2015. Around10:15 p.m., the other homeless man awoke to find Faulkner’s shack consumed by flames but couldn’t save his friend.
He ran to a nearby billiard hall and called police, the inquest heard.
A pathologist found elevated alcohol levels in Faulkner’s blood.
John Montgomery, an investigator with the Office of the Fire Marshal who was called to the scene, testified the cause of the fire that killed Faulkner was undetermined but may have been started by a fire lit on the ground between the two huts.
During his testimony Chris Faulkner said he believes that tragedies like the one that befell his brother Grant occur to make society realize its responsibilities to those less fortunate. He described his brother as a “good father” whose death “devastated” his family.
Witness testimony continues Tuesday.