On the edge of a new memorial garden on Paradise Row in Saint John are three hearts, crafted with white rocks.
They represent the three people who died in tent encampment fires this winter: Raeanne Tyler, 33; Jonathan Calhoun, 34; and Evan McArthur, 44.
Winston Tyler, Raeanne’s father, decided the place where his daughter lost her life should be a place where new life can grow — in the form of a garden.
“After I cleaned up on April 20th, we had a big cleanup here in the city, and I was down here looking at the site and something told me that’d be a great place to build a garden. I think she said, ‘Dad,’” he said in an interview Friday.
He remembers his daughter — also a mother of three daughters — as a vibrant person, one with a sunshine-like personality.
“She was a friend to everybody. Building this and having everything going on, I found out how many friends she had. Rae was very special,” Tyler said. “She was a beautiful woman.”
The reason she was living rough is complicated, he said, and she was suffering through mental health issues. Tyler tried to help her in every way he could.
“Her mental disorders evolved even more and she went to a dark place,” he said. “She was fighting it for a while. She was doing drugs for a while to keep awake.”
Tyler was working at the time of his daughter’s death. He was told about videos posted to social media and he watched them.
“It’s not a good thing to see your child burn to death,” he said, emotional. “I’ve watched it a few times and I’ll probably never watch it again, but it is heart-wrenching.”
But as he sits in the new garden space, teeming with life, he is surrounded by people who knew and loved the three people who lost their lives.
Two of them are Kendra Johnston and Rachel McIntyre, who volunteer on Thursdays with Street Team SJ delivering food.
“She really was a ray of sunshine. She never failed to put a smile on your face, that’s for sure,” said Johnston.
“Rae certainly marched to the beat of her own drum, um, she was really funny, she always lit up the room,” added McIntyre. “She was just very kind to everyone.”
Johnston said coming here before the space was disheartening, a reminder of all the loss experienced in just a couple of months.
“Coming here now and having this garden, it really does lighten the situation, as tragic as it was.”
Ashley Nason created Saint John Strong after Evan McArthur died — also bringing food and clothing for those experiencing homelessness. In that time, she grew close to both Rae and Jonathan.
“Working as close as we did, they become family,” Nason said. “They’re our friends. This here gives the other people who are unhoused a place to sit and remember. It’s healing for everyone.”
Nason wants people to stop being judgmental of those who are living rough.
“They’re just a little lost,” she said. “We really need something that addresses mental health right away. We’ve had so many come to us wanting help and there is such a wait.”
Evan McArthur’s mother brings his mantra with her everywhere she goes now.
“Every day is a new day, I wake up with Evan’s mantra and I just follow through on that… just keep ‘er real and get ‘er done, Mum,” she said.
For her, this garden shows the power of people.
“A community that rallied together and showed that they cared. They didn’t just care, they shared and they did,” she said. “Every time I look at this space, I think, ‘Wow, let’s harness some of that power and let’s get ‘er done.’”
In the distance of the garden, you can see some flowers attached to a tree, mere metres away. It is close to both areas where all three people perished.
Tyler said he wants the space to be welcoming to everyone. He thanked the many people, donors and helpers, who created the space — a place that has been healing for him, he explained, but also one he hopes acts as a reminder.
“They’re not just homeless, they are people. They’re just honest people,” he said.
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