Spencer Colby is a Canadian-Trinidadian editorial and commercial photographer who focuses his documentary work on covering the toxic drug crisis and homelessness. These photographs of Thumper were made from January to September, 2025.

It’s just past 10 p.m. on a cool Saturday night in Ottawa’s ByWard Market. Thumper sits on a narrow metal bar, her thin, underweight body leaning against a narrow black wall that seamlessly blends into the surrounding darkness. A small cup of seasoned off-the-cob corn and a large freshly squeezed lemonade – Thumper’s first meal of the day – rest next to her feet in the dimly lit alleyway. The lingering smell of urine hangs in the air.

The night is young for Thumper, 46, as her routine of panhandling through the often-packed streets of one of Ottawa’s most popular tourist destinations is set to begin.

Donning her small black leather purse – filled with most of her worldly possessions – Thumper takes a few quick bites of her corn and sips from her lemonade, and then lights up the butt of a cigarette as she walks down the alleyway and out into the ByWard Market’s nightlife.

Dodging slow-moving cars, drunk partygoers and eager patrons waiting in line to enter the dozen or so bars and clubs that dot the streets of the Market, Thumper zigzags along a route well established over the nearly two years spent asking passing strangers for spare change or an extra cigarette.

Each night that Thumper panhandles, she has two goals. The first: make $11, just enough for a small can of Orange Crush, a corn dog and small portion of fries – layered with ketchup, mayonnaise and vinegar – from Sasha’s Poutine stand, wedged between two lively nightclubs. Her second goal is much more addictive than her near-nightly routine of a 3 a.m. visit to the food stand.

Thumper’s situation is not unique. It’s a symptom familiar to one of Ottawa’s – and Canada’s – most vulnerable populations, a population whose lives intersect with the illicit toxic drug and homelessness crisis, which has claimed the........

© The Globe and Mail