Monday to Friday, twice a day, Ray Soucy makes the trip to Burrard and Hastings, where he has been selling Vancouver’s street paper for the last 17 years. His customers have included former Prime Minister Joe Clark, former mayors Philip Owen and Sam Sullivan. But while Ray gets a kick out of some of his more influential customers, it’s his regulars that keep him coming back each day. “Selling street newspapers, you end up meeting some of the nicest people in the world,” he explains. “These are wonderful people who feel like they can make a difference and change things for someone.”

But while Ray has explored a number of various occupations over the years, he continues to vend because, for him, the paper is an important vehicle for helping the disenfranchised. “We deal with issues that the popular press doesn’t deem sexy enough to cover, such as homelessness, poverty and addiction,” explains Soucy. “I think we’re bang on with our mission statement because this paper really is for the marginalized of society.”