Eli was a rambunctious kid. He was quick, crazed and energized. His father taught him how to skateboard at the age of three and by the age of six, he was already dropping into bowls at the skatepark and landing kickflips.

Eli had blonde hair and a smile that seared; it was one of the characteristics his father and others always loved about Eli鈥攈e was always smiling.

Like many children, Eli sought freedom and exploration and in the three months before he was fatally stabbed in downtown 琉璃神社, his youthful aching to wander showed parallels with his father鈥檚.

鈥淗is whole life, everybody that has ever known him has said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 your little mini-me right there,鈥欌�� said Robyn-lain Beauregard, 37, father of the late 16 year old.

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As a kid growing up in Arthur, Ont.,鈥揳 town with under 2,500 residents and a couple dozen streets鈥擝eauregard wanted out. So at around age 15, he left town, dropped out of school and began hitchhiking to nearby cities in Ontario.

In the process, he had become homeless and stayed that way for about a year and a half until he was housed in Toronto around the age of 17.

鈥淚 was bored, I was always at home, I wanted freedom.鈥�

He met Eli鈥檚 mother-to-be in Toronto while they attended school together. When Beauregard was 18, Eli鈥檚 mother became pregnant and Beauregard recovered and transitioned into a father figure for young Eli.

A vagrant of sorts, Beauregard learnt a lot while he was street-ridden. It was something he wished Eli would learn from and not have to go through himself.

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鈥淲e would come to 琉璃神社 every now and then and I would tell him that we were just sight-seeing and as we were going, I鈥檇 see things that I hoped he would never be involved with,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I made sure he knew.鈥�

But his father鈥檚 subtle lessons and stories wasn鈥檛 enough for Eli. After all, he was Beauregard鈥檚 鈥渕ini-me.鈥�

Eli moved into his mother鈥檚 house in 琉璃神社 just before Christmas in 2018, after an extended trip east-bound from Calgary with his father. However, it served more as reverse transitional housing, landing Eli on the street through self-autonomy rather than latent parenting.

鈥淗e started disappearing a little bit more every day, then he started not coming home at night,鈥� Beauregard called.

Both mother and father reached out to Eli and spoke quite often. As Beauregard explained, Eli was free to roam where he pleased. If he wanted to stay with his mother, he could. If he wanted to stay with his father, great. If he wanted to wander, so be it. But he found a sense of home on the street.

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鈥淭here鈥檚 a reason why somebody would choose the street over a perfectly good home,鈥� Beauregard said. 鈥淔or my son, it was following rules at home, going to school, having to get up every day at a certain time鈥� that just wasn鈥檛 my kid. He was never, ever cool with that.鈥�

From the time when Eli first went to school, he was different. Beauregard said he couldn鈥檛 make friends or didn鈥檛 want to make friends. And when he lived on the street for the three-odd months that preceded his death, he made more friends than he might鈥檝e had throughout his whole childhood.

鈥淭hat might鈥檝e been the original draw to downtown, was that, 鈥業 get to go and hang out with my friends that I actually want to hang out with,鈥欌�� Beauregard said.

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The group of strangers that Eli morphed into his circle reminded Beauregard of the people that helped him through his days on the street as a youth as well. From friends to shelters and food banks, Eli was known and cared for.

鈥淲hen I was in that lifestyle, I had a lot of people that helped me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 learned that there was a lot of people doing that for Eli.鈥�

A child who subconsciously had a knack for rebellion, an anomaly separated from the bulk; for Eli, it was less about being retrogressive but rather of fulfilling a part of his life in which he felt must be, according to his father. He was depicted as a stand-alone figure with blonde hair and a smile that seers.

鈥淗e was a handful right from the get-go and that鈥檚 just who he was.鈥�

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