Paul Jenkinson places his sign 20 to 30 feet down the path from his table, so people can read it before they decide whether to come any closer. It says “You Are Not Alone, I Will Listen,” along with “No Cost Listening” and “Sit Down Relax.”

The setup itself is two chairs side by side next to a small table holding a welcome sign and a container of business cards. There is a bag of Jolly Ranchers for children and teens, with their parents’ permission, and dog treats for people walking their dogs.

Jenkinson calls the project the You Are Not Alone, I Will Listen Cross Canada Journey, and it works as a kind of listening tour. He sets up in public places, including parks, walkways, farmers markets, coffee shops, libraries and malls, and offers to listen, at no cost, to anyone who sits down.

Jenkinson, a retired social worker, began on May 1, 2025, in Nova Scotia. By his count he has travelled 50,000 kilometres, from the East Coast to the West Coast and north to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., where he took a plunge in the Arctic Ocean. He has been invited to 80 communities, stayed with 80 billet hosts who put him up along the way, and held about 1,500 longer conversations and hundreds of shorter ones.

He is largely self-funded. “I am all in for this journey,” he says, and most of the costs come out of his pensions, topped up by a GoFundMe that brings in about $1,000 a month. Each community arranges a billet host, who provides lodging and one meal a day, an arrangement he prefers to a motel room by himself.

The biggest expenses have been gas, tires and, most recently, a $6,000 transmission replacement. He has also given away about $7,000 in Subway gift cards, to people facing food insecurity and as simple acts of generosity.

Retired since 2017, Jenkinson spent the following years in advocacy: opposing a gold mine, working to protect an inter-tidal river, speaking publicly for Advocates for the Care of the Elderly and carrying out a 30-day hunger strike for Extinction Rebellion as an education campaign on climate and agriculture.

The listening tour came from something he noticed after COVID.

“Post-COVID, I was aware of a crisis of loneliness among people, that after COVID people re-entered a society that was more electronically bubbled up and separated from each other,” he says. “I was also concerned about the polarization between people. I also had a vision of providing no-cost public listening, a form of public listening without the barriers of wait lists or fees.”

At the table, he greets people and asks how they are doing. They often ask how he is, which opens the door to talking about the journey and then to listening. Some watch for a while first, approaching only after they have seen him treat others in a friendly way.

Some ask what he is selling, and the answer is nothing. Others ask whether it is religious.

“No, this is not religious unless compassion is religious,” he tells them.

What he offers is to listen to people first and longer, with his full attention and what he calls unconditional positive regard. People will not be judged, shamed or turned away, whatever they say.

When he asks how it feels to be offered that kind of space, it is common for people to have tears in their eyes. Many tell him it has been a long time, or that nobody has offered it before.

Some come back. Asked whether he gets to see how people’s stories turn out, he says, “Everything is possible and does happen.” Those who return tell him how they have followed or adapted their plans and how their feelings have changed, sharing a little more each time.

When people feel respected, safe and heard without judgment, he says, “the authentic person will show up.” Human problems are similar everywhere, even if cultural challenges differ.

In a polarized society, people try to work out whether you are “a lion or a lamb,” someone who thinks like they do or holds another position, so he asks curious questions rather than taking positions.

Many tell him they see listening as one way out of a culture where families struggle to share a meal and people cut ties with those who see things differently.

Very few people arrive in what he describes as a time-sensitive crisis, and he helps those people contact local services. Otherwise, he says, his responsibility is to be with people “in a way that is calm,” so they can feel their feelings without becoming overwhelmed.

Asked what anyone could do this week to listen better, he starts with questions. “Questions open up a conversation and invite people to tell you what they are experiencing,” he says. “Statements close down a conversation.” He also recommends listening to build relationships rather than argue a position, and not taking over. “Don’t steal the conversation,” he says.

The Fraser Valley is where Jenkinson’s own story took shape. He first came in 1973, married here, raised his children and took part in a faith community, and his social work career happened in Mission, Chilliwack and Abbotsford. He says he always loves returning, and calls the work he did here the most meaningful of his life.

Over about 50 years, that work ranged from the first group home in Mission for people with intellectual disabilities to a Salvation Army youth hostel he coordinated, from child protection to the seniors clinic at the hospital. He also served as president of the Fraser River branch of the B.C. Association of Social Workers and as the association’s public spokesperson on child welfare and family issues.

It taught him that “people are the experts in their own situations,” and that listening first and longer shows a social worker how a client thinks, feels and hopes to respond. In child welfare, he says, he “walked humbly” with families who felt ashamed and feared their children would be removed, while the children’s safety stayed paramount.

Recently, Jenkinson spent 40 days at Mill Lake Park, sitting in the same spot at the same time to see what would happen when people watched someone listen in one place day after day. “New people will continue to come by whatever the circumstance,” he says, “and those who are initially cautious will come after enough time has passed for them to feel safe.” Many told him they appreciated that someone was offering such an act of compassion.

The journey will likely end sometime after May 2027. Jenkinson is also preparing to spend a month in Newfoundland listening and a week with Mennonite Disaster Service in August, and he is creating a webpage about the journey and what he has learned.

“I will likely provide listening opportunities wherever I am until I am not able to do so,” he says.

Until November 9, he can be found at Mill Lake Park from 3 to 5 p.m. when the weather is nice, and at the MCC Thrift Store on Gladys Avenue in Abbotsford when it isn’t.