Elsipogtog's youth centre remembered as safe space by community members

For Phoenix Augustine, Elsipogtog's youth centre was her "saving grace" growing up. 

The centre burned down early Thursday, according to RCMP, and the fire is considered suspicious.

Augustine said the centre was a judgment-free place.

"No matter what kind of day you had, whether good or bad, you could always count on the people in there to give you a smile and to say, 'How are you?' and 'How's your day going?'" said Augustine. 

Augustine is from St. Mary's First Nation, where she currently lives.

But from the ages of 12-18, she lived in Elsipogtog, where her dad's family is from. Augustine spent some time in the foster care system and she said one thing that always stood out to her was how much the youth centre cared. 

She said she would go there at least once a week to draw or hang out with friends and she often attended one of their summer camps. 

Augustine said her heart sank when she read on social media about a fire at Elsipogtog. She said questions ran through her head when she realized it was at the youth centre.

"How are we going to rebuild? How are we going to fix this? What's going to happen now? Are we even going to have another youth centre?"

She said the kids who went to the centre are at "really impactful ages." She said it could be an escape from drugs in the community or a place for single parents to send their kids if they needed a bit of a break. 

Heidi Simon from Elsipogtog said she also found out about the fire on social media. She saw a photo of the youth centre with no roof and missing walls.

She said it was shocking. She immediately sent the photo to her son, Talon Simon. 

"You just don't even understand why things like this happen," she said. "It's really hard."

Talon Simon said "it was kind of unbelievable" when he saw the photo. In September, Talon and Heidi spent time raising money for the centre with an orange shirt sale for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation through Talon's business, Rez Famous Brand.