This First Person piece was written by Stephen Douglas, who lives in Vancouver. For more information about CBC’s First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
On an eerily quiet stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Ontario, somewhere between Thunder Bay and Dryden, sits a plain-looking station. No fancy canopy, no LED signage. But it’s the first break from white spruce and jack pine along the highway in close to an hour and my gas is running low, so I pull in.
Broken asphalt. Two diesel pumps and two regular gasoline pumps. The building is in need of new siding and there’s not another soul in sight. I eye it all warily before stepping out from my hatchback, loaded with all the belongings I’m bringing from Toronto to my new home in Vancouver.
I’m mid-way, with 2,000 more kilometres to go over the days ahead. It feels good to get the blood flowing through my legs again. I allow myself a little back stretch against the curve of the car door. Ah, the sun’s warmth softens the tension I have been holding from focusing on the highway’s many dips and bends all this distance. An 18-wheeler roars past, bellowing up dust. OK, time to gas up and forge onward.
“Please fill up then come inside to pay,” a hand-scrawled sign reads.
There’s no card scanner here. I lift the nozzle and flip up the lever. The pump whirrs in that familiar way, but there are no numbers appearing on the display. I’m confused. I place the nozzle into the filler and squeeze. I can feel gas running through it, but still, nothing on the display. My mind straddles two thoughts at once; keep filling, which I am doing by default, and pay whatever after, or stop, go inside to let someone know there is a problem with the pump. Well, after 20 seconds of second-guessing, I stop, pull the nozzle out and hang it back on the pump.
I open a creaky little door and am greeted by a smile from a petite woman behind a counter. “Hello,” she tilts her head with a question mark. Is she Indian? Pakistani? I’m embarrassed that I can’t tell the difference.
“I’m sorry. I was trying to fill up but the pump wasn’t working properly. It didn’t display anything.”
She said nothing, waiting for me to clarify.
“I mean, I don’t know how much I have filled up.”
“It says nothing on the pump? Did you flip the lever up?”
I explain that I could feel that some gas was flowing through the hose, but the display hadn’t changed. I hope I’m making sense.
She checks her register. The last reading was $108.48. My car wouldn’t take that much even if it was empty. Anxiety creeps into my mind. Does she think I’m trying to get away without paying?
“Well, that was someone else. Twenty minutes ago. That’s not you.”
I’m relieved. But what now?
A man appears from the back room. Overhearing us, he looks both puzzled and concerned. “Can you show me?” he asks.
“Yes. Please.”
We step back outside. He looks at the pump, back at me, back at the pump again.
“May I?” he asks, lifting the nozzle from the pump.
I nod. He switches the lever on. I hear the pump whirr back into action and, to my dismay, the display lights up: 0.00 litres, $0.00.
I must appear some kind of fool.
He inserts the nozzle into the filler and runs it until it clicks off. It only took $7.88 worth.
“It’s full.”
“I know, but you see, I ran it before I came in. I only stopped because I thought there was a problem with the pump.”
“Strange. How much do you think you filled?”
“It wasn’t empty, perhaps two-thirds of a tank.”
“Well, we added $7 here.” I note that he rounded down. “So pay me whatever you feel is the correct total, but no more.”
I pay him a few dollars more than I think the true total might be, erring on the side of honouring his trust in me.
“Would you like a coffee?” he adds, pointing to the small restaurant. I notice for the first time a little sign on the window reading, “Restaurant Canadian Punjabi style.“
“Actually, yes, I could use a cup to keep me alert on the drive.”
“It’s a long haul,” he agrees. I guess that is true of everyone driving this highway.
“Again, I’m very sorry for your difficulty. Thank you for filling up here.”
He is sincere in his courtesy, of course, but seems to be expressing something else. Gratitude for something bigger than my patronage, but what?
I grab a table and sit down to rest for a bit. Then I notice the floral decorations around the room. They put some thought into cheering up their customers. The coffee tastes better than I expected from a service station diner. A ramp is being built to the washroom and repair tools are out. They’re fixing things up and putting their effort into offering comfort food to South Asian commercial rig drivers, a steady stream of whom come and go while I linger. They come for the thali. I try a plate. It’s good!
As I prepare to pay at the cash, the man and the woman are waiting together for me.
She holds her hand up when I offer my card. “We could not see the readout,” he explains, “but we can tell from the difference in volume pumped, you purchased $5 less fuel than you believed. So, please, if you are OK with this, there is no charge for your breakfast.”
I know the plate I ordered was worth well beyond $10. They are being kind.
I leave both lighter and more hopeful about our future as a nation. All it took was a family fixing up a station more than 50 kilometres from the nearest town, creating a little oasis in the middle of the boreal forest for truckers who criss-cross the Canadian Shield with appliances and lumber and other essential goods that we take for granted.
Beyond that utility, though, there is something about them that makes me smile. Something in their thoughtful decoration, in their selfless service, in their joy, their gentleness, their desire to be accountable. It feels like it is one thing altogether, though I don’t quite know what to call it.
Sometimes the best things about people don’t fit neatly into labels.
Somewhere between Winnipeg and Regina, a day after my stop at his station, it crossed my mind to write this story down. I reached out to Deepak, the owner, to ensure I had his permission. He agreed, but again in the humblest terms he added that he was just doing his job.
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PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – RCMP say the body of a second person has been found inside their vehicle after a road washed away amid pouring rain on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Police say two vehicles went into the Sarita River when Bamfield Road washed out on Saturday as an atmospheric river hammered southern B.C.
The body of the other driver was found Sunday.
More coming.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
The B.C. Greens say Sonia Furstenau will be staying on as party leader, despite losing her seat in the legislature in Saturday’s provincial election.
The party says in a statement that its two newly elected MLAs, Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell, support Furstenau’s leadership as they “navigate the prospect of having the balance of power in the legislature.”
Neither the NDP led by Premier David Eby nor the B.C. Conservatives led by John Rustad secured a majority in the election, with two recounts set to take place from Oct. 26 to 28.
Eby says in a news conference that while the election outcome is uncertain, it’s “very likely” that the NDP would need the support of others to pass legislation.
He says he reached out to Furstenau on election night to congratulate her on the Greens’ showing.
But he says the Green party has told the NDP they are “not ready yet” for a conversation about a minority government deal.
The Conservatives went from taking less than two per cent of the vote in 2020 to being elected or leading in 45 ridings, two short of a majority and only one behind the NDP.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Toronto FC captain Jonathan Osorio is making a difference, 4,175 kilometres away from home.
The 32-year-old Canadian international midfielder, whose parents hail from Colombia, has been working with the Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization, a charity whose goal is to help disadvantaged youth in the South American country.
Osorio has worked behind the scenes, with no fanfare.
Until now, with his benevolence resulting in becoming Toronto FC’s nominee for the Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award, which honours an MLS player “who showed outstanding dedication to charitable efforts and serving the community” during the 2024 season.”
Other nominees include Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter and CF Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
The winner will be announced in late November.
The Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization (CCCO) is run entirely by volunteers like Monica Figueredo and Claudia Soler. Founded in 1991, it received charitable status in 2005.
The charity currently has four projects on the go: two in Medellin and one each in Armenia and Barranquilla.
They include a school, a home for young girls whose parents are addicted to drugs, after-school and weekend programs for children in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, and nutrition and education help for underprivileged youth.
The organization heard about Osorio and was put in contact with him via an intermediary, which led to a lunch meeting. Osorio did his due diligence and soon got back to the charity with his decision.
“It was something that I wanted to be a part of right away,” said Osorio, whose lone regret is that he didn’t get involved sooner.
“I’m fortunate now that to help more now that I could have back then,” he added. “The timing actually worked out for everybody. For the last three years I have donated to their cause and we’ve built a couple of (football) fields in different cities over there in the schools.”
His father visited one of the sites in Armenia close to his hometown.
“He said it was amazing, the kids, how grateful they are to be able to play on any pitch, really,” said Osorio. “But to be playing on a new pitch, they’re just so grateful and so humble.
“It really makes it worth it being part of this organization.”
The collaboration has also made Osorio take stock.
“We’re very fortunate here in Canada, I think, for the most part. Kids get to go to school and have a roof over their head and things like that. In Colombia, it’s not really the same case. My father and his family grew up in tough conditions, so giving back is like giving back to my father.”
Osorio’s help has been a godsend to the charity.
“We were so surprised with how willing he was,” said Soler.
The TFC skipper has helped pay for a football field in Armenia as well as an ambitious sports complex under construction in Barranquilla.
“It’s been great for them,” Figueredo said of the pitch in Armenia. “Because when they go to school, now they have a proper place to train.”
Osorio has also sent videos encouraging the kids to stay active — as well as shipping soccer balls and signed jerseys their way.
“They know more about Jonathan than the other players in Colombia,” Figueredo said. “That’s the funny part. Even though he’s far away, they’ve connected with him.”
“They feel that they have a future, that they can do more,” she added. “Seeing that was really, really great.”
The kids also followed Osorio through the 2022 World Cup and this summer’s Copa America.
Back home, Osorio has also attended the charity’s annual golf tournament, helping raise funds.
A Toronto native, he has long donated four tickets for every TFC home game to the Hospital for Sick Children.
Vancouver’s Berhalter was nominated for his involvement in the Whitecaps’ partnership with B.C. Children’s Hospital while Montreal’s Sirois was chosen for his work with the Montreal Impact Foundation.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
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