Homelessness cost weighed in St. Stephen

A funeral on May 26 possibly brings home the true cost of homelessness in St. Stephen.
At 7:23 a.m. on May 21 the St. Stephen and Calais fire departments and the RCMP responded to a call to what had been a long abandoned house at 386 Milltown Boulevard, near the cotton mill monument at Salmon Falls. "After we knocked the fire down, we discovered we had one fatality," St. Stephen Fire Chief Sean Morton said in an interview following the May 24 Municipal District Council meeting.
The RCMP confirmed in a statement that the remains of a 42 year old local man were found in the residence. The provincial fire marshal's office and the coroner are assisting with the investigation into the causes of the death and the fire, but they did not appear to be suspicious, according to the RCMP.
Family and friends gathered at Humphreys' Funeral Home five days later to say good bye to Jesse Robichaud, 42, son of Candace and the late Paul Robichaud. "Our love for an individual has to be bigger than the actions and the choices they make," said Rev. Dan Jamer, who conducted the service.
"We are not responsible for other people's choices but it is an opportunity to try to be a positive and encouraging influence in the lives of others. We are responsible for how we treat others along the way," Jamer said, adding, "Unfortunately, we're all guilty of making wrong choices or poor choices sometimes."
Tents had begun popping up in parks and elsewhere in St. Stephen after the authorities shut down an apartment building on Schoodic Street under the provincial Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) program last August. A warming centre opened last winter to prevent people from freezing to death while the community works on longer term solutions to homelessness and related issues of addictions, mental health and life skills. The warming centre closed in April.
Since last summer, criminal activity and other incidents including at least five fires have put this border community on edge. The historic structure that last housed Greco Pizza, where unsheltered people hung out, burned in September. Since then, a truck belonging to businessman Kevin Stuart and a boat belonging to Sweeney International Marine Corp. burned. A house on Pleasant Street where homeless people stayed burned last month. Someone died in the most recent fire on May 21.
Morton, whose responsibilities as deputy chief administrative officer include protective services, cautions against blaming people without homes for fires and other incidents. "A lot of these fires, the actual causes have not been determined and probably never will be. The fact that there are homeless around or whatever, they tend to take the blame for all the vandalism; they take the blame for the crime," he said. However, "All of those things were happening before we had homelessness, so are they innocent? Some are. Are all of them? No, but they're not responsible for everything going on in town."
However, he says tenters will not be camping in public places in St. Stephen this summer. "We are enforcing the bylaw that says you cannot tent in town parks, until I'm told otherwise," he says. At another council meeting he sounded apologetic about the clothing and other possessions tossed into dumpsters while breaking up campsites on town property.
Morton told councillors that he ordered the 386 Milltown Boulevard structure, damaged by fire but still standing, demolished to keep others from entering it. The day after the funeral, a single cut rose lay on the site.
The St. Stephen Area Chamber of Commerce is proposing to set up security cameras in downtown St. Stephen to provide help the RCMP in identifying people causing trouble. At the May 24 meeting, St. Stephen security consultant Mark Driscoll offered to work with the municipality and RCMP on countering crime and anti social behavior.
The council directed CAO Jeff Renaud to consult staff and others and come up with a list of potential sites on municipally owned land where unsheltered people could set up tents under municipal control. The council discussed this idea in April but was not ready on May 24 to make decisions.
Rained said staff could go through an "apolitical, cold hearted bureaucratic approach to site selection" and come back with a list at the next council meeting, normally on the last Wednesday of the month, June 28.
Although she supported this decision, Councillor Emily Reds, a social worker, expressed fear that summer would be over by the time the council approved a camping site, with the "warming season" and another decision looming.