A Christmas miracle: An Okanagan man's journey out of homelessness

For hours at a time, Bernard Cloutier sits at a grand piano at the First Baptist Church in Penticton, B.C., as his weathered hands weave a tapestry of melody and memory on the keys.

Over the past several months,Cloutier has spent four hours a day here, multiple times a week,rediscovering his ability to play the pianoas his voice fills the empty expanse of the church.

It's an opportunityCloutier, 67,said he's especially grateful for asit lends him achance to rebuild himself through music after his life saw atragic fall from wealth and privilege into homelessness nearlythree years ago.

"I feel like I want to cry because I know where I was and it's not too long ago," he said looking at a photo of his unshaven and tiredface taken during one of his lowest moments.

"This was just before Christmas in 2021. I was wondering if there was a place for me in the world. It was pretty bleak."

The stability Cloutier now feels and sense ofrenewed hope for the future allows him to reflect upon that dark period of his life a spell of about a year-and-a-half whenhe lived a precarious existence withunstable housing, includingseveral weeks in a tenton rural property and later sleeping in his car at a campsite.

WATCH | Senior finds community through piano music after nearly becoming homeless:

B.C. senior finds way out of homelessness through music

9 months ago

Duration 3:42

When Bernard Cloutier, 67, lost his home and wealth nearly three years ago, he had to sell his grand piano and live in a tent. He has rebuilt his life in Penticton and rediscovered his love for the piano, helping him connect with others at Christmastime.

From riches to rags

It was an existence Cloutierwould have never imagined possible during his working life as a stockbroker a time of privilege andwealth where he amassed a financial fortune, retired early and travelled the world with his spouse.

"It was just wonderful... We lived in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. We went to New Zealand. It was a fantastic life, livingon the beach in the summer and in Whistler in the winter," Cloutier said.

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Through a series of poor financial decisions, however, his fortune evaporated.

He plunged into a dark abyss of depression a painthat only compounded after his relationship of 17 years crumbled and his partner left him.

'I was suicidal'

In early 2021, Cloutierfaced evictionfrom his highrise apartment in Vancouver over unpaid rent. With nowhere to go, he worried he'd end up homeless on the city streets.

"It was very sombre. I was suicidal," he said.

Then aglimmer of hope emerged when an acquaintancecalled with an offer fora new beginning under very different circumstances living on a rural properly in the SimilkameenValley, about 235 kilometres east of Vancouver.

With no better options he agreed and made the tough decision tosell his grand piano, which severedhis connection to musicand the collaboration with other artists that hadbecome central to his life at the time.

The sale allowed him to pay off his landlord and afford another month of rent to prepare to move to the Similkameen.

Living rough in a tent on a ranch

Livingon ranch land was a far cry from the life of luxury he once knew, Cloutier said.

First he livedin a tent under a small, open-side shed andeventually in a small cottage in the woods. People he met at that time helped him reconnect with his faith.

However, in a cruel twist in late 2021, a chimney fire razed the cottage to the ground and with it all of Cloutier's musicsheets and arrangements he'd created over the years.

"I was devastated. At one point I went down on my knees and I prayedbecause it was too much,"Cloutier said."I was homeless and had nothing."

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With only $50 in his pocket, Cloutier went to Pentictonand was able tosecure temporary housing in a motel.

But hislife became a series of moves, even living out of his car at a campsite along the Ashnola River, east of Keremeos, about 50 kilometres southwest of Penticton,Cloutier said.

Finally in the summer of 2022, a space opened up at a supportive housing building run by the Kiwanis Housing Society in Penticton, which provided Cloutierwith an opportunity to rebuild his life and confidence.

Housing stability

At his small, one-bedroom apartment, a humbler life emerged. His government Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement gave him enough for rent and basic food and necessities.

Cloutier further committed to his faith and also feltthe compelling call of the piano.

Those two forcesbrought Cloutier to the First Baptist Church, where he found community and agrand piano which wasn't being used.

Bill Rooke, care pastor at the church, witnessed Cloutier's transformation.

"It is just something beautiful that's difficult to put into words. But I can see that the Lord is working in his life," Rooke said.

"I know because of his story that there's hope for everybody in the world todayand coming up to Christmas especially."

'In 2023, I've lived my best life'

Thehours atthe piano have become a lifeline, according to Cloutier. It wasa way for him to reshape his future into one filled with excitement and optimism.

"I'm telling friends now that I've lived, in 2023, my best life ever. It is incredible that I could say this after all that happened."

Cloutier'spath has connected him with other musicians in the community and recently opportunities to perform in everything from church concerts to an intimate Christmas performance ata hotellobby this holiday season.

"It means everything to me. It confirms to my brain, to my subconsciousthe enormous growth that happened," Cloutier said.

"Itgives me confidence that ifI was able to do all of that, I can do anything."

Through his playing, Cloutier believes, he's been able to transform his life's trials into something beautiful.

It's a "Christmas miracle" to share music with others this way, he said.