A Homeless Man In Montreal Just Showed Us All The Meaning Of Kindness

"He was young, and it was cold. I went through that situation."

A homeless man in Montreal was caught on video giving his jacket to a freezing teenager who was panhandling outdoors.

MTL Cinema / Via youtube.com

Putulik Qumak told BuzzFeed Canada he has been living on the streets of Montreal for almost two decades. He knew what it was like to be cold, so he thought nothing of giving away his jacket to help out someone else in need.

MTL Cinema / Via youtube.com

Qumak's act of kindness was captured on a "social experiment" video. Montreal filmmaker Angel Azmeer enlisted his younger brother to hold a sign on a busy Montreal street identifying him as a homeless 14-year-old.

MTL Cinema / Via youtube.com

Azmeer told BuzzFeed Canada he was inspired to do the video because he spent some time on the streets when he was younger, and he wanted to see who would help a young kid in need.

Hundreds of people walked by without helping.

MTL Cinema / Via youtube.com

Only a few young people stopped to chat and give him some spare change.

Qumak made a beeline for the teenager, though, and asked how he was doing. After seeing how cold the young man was, Qumak took off his denim jacket and wrapped it around the teenager's shoulders. "Let's make you a little warmer," he said.

MTL Cinema / Via youtube.com

Qumak, who is originally from Cape Dorset in Nunavut, has been homeless in Montreal for 18 years. The Inuk man said helping a young person in need was an easy decision for him.

“He was young, and it was cold. I went through that situation,” he said. “I had a feeling.”

“My mom has told me many years that I can help others even when I’m struggling. That’s why I did it.”

Caleb Clark / Open Door

Putulik Qumaq with his mother Kupa.

He says he wants people who are moved by the video to do more about homelessness in Canada.

“I would be very grateful if they start doing something about this. Help the people more on the street."

Qumak also said he plans to "get more involved" in homelessness programs and "be more helpful" in helping others in need. He said anyone who wants to help him with that work should consider donating to homeless shelters like Montreal's The Open Door centre, which helped arrange his interview with BuzzFeed Canada.

You can see the full video featuring Qumak below.

youtube.com

CORRECTION

Jan. 14, 2016, at 21:34 PM

An earlier version of this post misspelled Mr. Qumak's last name. We fixed that after confirming the spelling with the Open Door shelter.