Saint John memorial garden tribute to homeless people who died in fires at tent sites
Winston Tyler hopes the garden will bring awareness to homelessness in Saint John
Winston Tyler, father of Rae Tyler, who died in an encampment fire in March that also killed Jonathan Calhoun, doesn't want his daughter being memorialized by the tragic sight of charred remnants left from the fire that killed her.
Motivated by the thought of Rae's three young children, Winston pulled together community members to create a garden in her memory.
"They're going to eventually come down here and want to know where their mother died," he said.
"I didn't want them to see a charred, bad area ... I don't know, maybe Rae was talking to me."
Winston recently unveiled the Rae of Sunshine memorial garden in the spot where the fire occurred, named after his daughter.
He has been planning the garden since the weeks following his daughter's death in the late March fire on Paradise Row.
The garden is also dedicated to Jonathan Calhoun, who died in the same fire, and Evan McArthur, who died in an encampment fire in January in the same area.
There are large, raised garden beds with early signs of flower growth. The space has small tables and benches surrounding a cross. Nearby there is a patch of earth with three white hearts, which Winston said represents mental health.
He built the garden with the help of local community groups and businesses.
"We were able to create this memorial for these three and hopefully just bring some awareness to what's going on in the city with the mental health issues and the homeless and the addiction problem," Winston said.
He also hopes that it will send a message to Premier Blaine Higgs, particularly after comments he made in March, when he said "some homeless people don't want to leave the street."
"[Higgs] knows me now, so he knows that this is kind of a recognition to a failure through his government," he said.
He also hopes the garden will send a message to the government and community at large to "wake up."
"People are dying. They're not just homeless and drug addicts and living on the street. These are people's children," he said.
"These are people that were loved, you know, and I found out by building this how much they were loved by the community."
A community that cares
Heather McArthur, Evan McArthur's mother, looks at the garden with a mixture of sadness and pride.
"I was proud of all of our community who got busy, who cared, who shared ... because that's what I see every time I look at those flowers," she said.
"Everybody that had a hand in this, that's the blossom from it. … it's overwhelming to know that we have a community that cares enough to create a garden virtually overnight."
Still, McArthur says she struggles with the sadness of the park being created because three lives were lost.
"I grapple with it because I'm not ready to sit and have a cup of coffee in the garden. It's just not there for me yet," she said.
When she looks at the garden, she remembers the love her son had for nature.
"I think as I mature in my grieving, I'll probably be able to recognize more and enjoy it all that much more."
Remember them for the lights they were
Kendra Johnston and Rachel McIntyre, volunteers with Street Team SJ, knew Rae Tyler and Jonathan Calhoun through their frontline work.
"We don't really want to remember them how they died. It was a very tragic thing," Johnston said.
"Seeing this, it just brings light to the situation and it makes us feel a little bit better when we have to come here.
McIntyre agreed and said she wants the garden to be something positive.
"We just want those who passed here to be remembered for the lights that they were … they were humans, too, and they brought a lot of light to this world and had a purpose."
Corrections
- An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Street Team SJ as a group that helped build the memorial garden. The group worked with two of the people who died, but did not take part in creating the garden.Jun 12, 2024 12:09 PM AT
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