He came to Vancouver in 2004 with just $23 to his name. Today, he operates a society that has helped thousands of struggling addicts. Our series of Courage To Come Back award profiles continues with a look at Cole Izsak of White Rock, the recipient in the Addiction category.
Izsak’s addiction story starts in 1980’s Los Angeles. It was the height of the AIDS epidemic. And he had just lost his partner to the disease.
“I don’t want to make excuses for why I fell into addiction, but it was fear and thinking that my life would be short,” he said.
“I just thought I’d go out with a bang, and I started using, and it got a hold of me and didn’t let go for a long time.”
Fast forward to 2003, when Cole was sentenced for possession of a controlled substance. By some quirk of the law, he was deported back to Canada.
“I hadn’t been in Canada since 1962, when I was six weeks old. And I never imagined that I would live in Canada.”
Izsak arrived in Vancouver in 2004 with $23 to his name.
“I had no shoelaces, I had no socks, I had no toothbrush. I had absolutely nothing from the first 41 years of my life.”
His first stop was the Downtown Eastside. His addiction spiralled even further for the next seven years.
After hitting bottom one last time, he decided to make a change.
“I opted to try something different. And that was recovery. And that was 2011,” he said.
It was in recovery that he found his life’s path.
“While I was there, doing the hard work of resisting temptation and returning to my addiction, I thought, ‘You know what? I think I might have found something that I can delve into.’”
A year later, he started the Back on Track recovery home, and his new life began.
“And we now have about 90, 95 recovery beds and nine facilities in Surrey. And we’re helping lots of people.”
What started as a way for Izsak to stay clean has turned into a calling, a new purpose.
“I didn’t consider the end game of being able to really help people. I just wanted to stay clean and didn’t know exactly how to do that except by staying busy.”
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Since then, Back on Track has helped more than 5,000 men and women achieve recovery from addiction.
“I take great pride in that, and that number, and the amount of people that I have helped, and I’m definitely looking forward to helping many, many, many thousands more.”
For Izsak, the greatest gift to emerge from his Courage To Come Back award is a shot at redemption in the eyes of his family.
“Being able to let my parents know that ‘Look, you guys, I’m not such a screw-up’ — I was going to say something else, but I’ll keep it clean here — ‘I’m not such a bad guy, you know, I’m worth it. And you did good, Dad. And I’m trying to make some changes.’ And so, I love sharing the award with them.”
1130 NewsRadio is a proud sponsor of the 2026 Coast Mental Health Courage To Come Back awards, which are being handed out Thursday night at the Vancouver Convention Centre.