In a video shot by his daughter just before Christmas, Jamaal Johnson said it was impossible for him to fight his addictions while living at 844 Johnson. He was right
On Jan. 10, 2023, his premonition came true. The 43-year-old Victoria man collapsed in his bathroom in the social housing residence and could not be revived.
Johnson’s widow, Courtney, said Jamaal was desperate to be transferred out of the building, which was set up in late 2016 to provide housing for homeless campers moved out of a tent city on the Victoria courthouse grounds. The facility is now operated by the Portland Hotel Society. The heroin smoke in the hallways is so intense, it makes you feel dizzy, she said. Support workers reach into their drawers and pass out clean needles or a pipe.
‘He was a nerd. He loved to read’ The two met in the Royal Oak neighbourhood when she was 12 and Jamaal was 14. They started dating in 1996, when she was 14. He went to Reynolds Secondary. She went to Claremont. They had an on-again, off-again relationship soured by his drug and alcohol use. Their daughter was born in 2004. Although Jamaal wanted to be a good father, he kept relapsing.
Jamaal started living in a tent city in Centennial Square. During COVID, he was moved to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre temporary shelter. In 2021, he was transferred to 844 Johnson St. On the day he died, other residents noticed that Jamaal looked grey. He was distraught and wringing his hands. He was found lying on his bathroom floor in the fetal position. Courtney, who talked to the coroner, believes he died from heart failure.
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