Man who died in Saint John encampment fire remembered as a ‘sweet person’ – New Brunswick | 24CA News

After the dying of an unhoused man in New Brunswick over the weekend, front-line advocates are ramping up their requires higher helps for these dwelling on the streets.

A fireplace broke out at an encampment in Saint John Saturday, and one man was rushed to hospital with extreme burns. After being transported out-of-province for medical remedy, he succumbed to his accidents Sunday.

On Monday, police recognized the sufferer as 44-year-old Peter Evan Ralph McArthur. According to his obituary, he’s survived by his mother and father, his brother, two nieces, and his aunt.

“Free at last, son,” the obituary learn.

Johanne McCullough, a volunteer with Street Team SJ, stated the group has visited the encampment below the viaduct close to Paradise Row, the place McArthur lived, thrice every week.

She stated the crew responded to the hearth Saturday and knew McArthur very nicely, having labored with him for a couple of yr and a half.

“(He was a) very nice, very kind man. Always had a hug ready for anyone,” she stated. “Just a very, very sweet person. All of our teams are completely heartbroken over it.”

McCullough stated it’s “very common” to see issues like candles, butane burners, propane and turbines at encampment websites, as persons are attempting their finest to maintain heat whereas dwelling outdoors.

“We’ve cautioned against bringing any kind of fuel into their tent, and if they are going to use candles, we want them to be careful with it,” she stated. “But it is always a risk.”

The reason behind the hearth continues to be below investigation.

McCullough stated it’s necessary to do not forget that not everybody who’s unhoused is affected by drug use or psychological sickness. “Some of them have jobs and they live in tents,” she stated. “They go to work.”

Second dying this winter

McArthur is no less than the second unhoused particular person to die in New Brunswick this winter. In early December, a person died in a public area in St. Stephen, prompting the municipality to declare a state of emergency — which the province promptly rescinded.

And in neighbouring Nova Scotia, a person dwelling in an encampment in Halifax died final month after experiencing medical misery.

According to current numbers from the Saint John Human Development Council, the variety of folks experiencing absolute homelessness in New Brunswick’s three main cities greater than doubled between 2021 and 2023. Absolute homelessness refers to people dwelling on the street or in emergency shelters.

Greg Bishop, the senior director on the Human Development Council, stated this weekend’s incident was “tragic” and may have been preventable.

As the winter attracts on and homelessness continues to rise, Bishop is anxious about the opportunity of future tragedies as folks battle to remain heat.

“This is a real risk. Last week, there was another individual who lost a number of their digits to frostbite,” he stated.

“This is kind of early into our winter season, so it would probably be a safe assumption to suggest that if we have this many people who are still outdoors, that this is one of the possibilities.”

1:39Homeless inhabitants doubles in N.B. cities over two years

Bishop acknowledged the issue is “complicated,” however stated the province wants to scale back the influx of unhoused folks — those that are falling into homelessness.

“We certainly have prevention measures and programs available, but we need to scale those up,” he stated. “We just need to stop people from coming into homelessness in the first place.”

And extra housing, particularly supportive housing choices, are wanted for these already experiencing homelessness, he stated. “We’ve got to focus on the outflow, and we’ve got to focus on the inflow.”

Julie Dingwell, govt director of Avenue B Harm Reduction in Saint John, agreed that extra is required. She stated she was “very saddened” to listen to of McArthur’s dying.

“It speaks to the need for us really ramping up services here, really doing something so that people aren’t in tents and trying to keep warm,” she stated.

“How do we make life so much better and easier for people that are living on the margins?”

She stated organizations like hers are “run off our feet” attempting to maintain folks protected, they usually should fundraise greater than they ever needed to.

“Nobody is sending us thousands of dollars to go buy tents and sleeping bags and figure out how to keep people warm,” stated Dingwell.

As the problem of homelessness turns into extra seen, folks could attempt to forged blame on unhoused folks for being within the state of affairs they’re in, however Dingwell stated that’s unfair. Decades of presidency inaction is a giant a part of the issue, she stated.

“Nobody wakes up and says, ‘I think I’d like to be homeless and go live in a tent and freeze to death in the winter and sweat to death in the summer,’” she stated.

“Nobody wants that. But we’ve had three levels of governments that, over the decades, have successively stopped building housing.

“We’ve had a federal government and a provincial government that totally washed their hands of doing this, and now we’re blaming the homeless for being homeless.”

She questioned why the provincial authorities is working surpluses as persons are dwelling and dying on the streets.

“We’re working to try to keep people alive in many ways,” she stated. “We shouldn’t have to be worried that they’re going to burn to death in a tent.”

‘We need housing’

In an announcement, Rebecca Howland, the spokesperson for New Brunswick’s Department of Social Development, stated McArthur’s dying was a tragedy.

“The Department of Social Development wishes to express sincere condolences to relatives and friends of the deceased,” she stated.

“The province continues to focus on reducing chronic homelessness in New Brunswick and continues to engage with stakeholders at all levels of government and in the community.”

Howland stated an out-of-the-cold shelter opened on Somerset Street in Saint John in December, and “capacity wasn’t an issue this past weekend.”

She additionally famous that there are 9 everlasting emergency shelters throughout the province that present a complete of 301 beds, and the province has the capability to extend the variety of beds by 200 throughout the system to react to elevated want within the colder months.

But Dingwell stated unhoused folks won’t wish to keep in shelters for a wide range of causes, and what’s most wanted is everlasting, reasonably priced housing.

“Shelters aren’t always the answer,” she stated. “We need housing. We need real housing where people get to lay their head at night, and be able to access the services they need that would really make their life better.”