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Funeral funds come through for stabbed B.C. teen

Elijah-Iain Beauregard
Elijah-Iain Beauregard (via Contributed)

It has been nearly two weeks since Elijah-Iain Beauregard was fatally stabbed in Kelowna, and his mother was still struggling to find the funds to have him put to rest.

That all changed as of yesterday afternoon (July 12) as the mother of slain Elijah Beauregard heard back from the funeral home with the good news that ministry funding has come through to cover the cost of laying her 16-year-old son to rest. 

"[They were] very apologetic about all the unnecessary hoops they put us through. We are going to be shutting down the GoFundMe page for the funeral cost and donate the money," Emily Steele explained. 

She believes it was the activity on social media that helped spur action. 

"He was very much loved and he is going to be sorely missed," she said. "Everybody's just crushed and it just feels like a kick in the teeth."

Devastated by the loss of her son, Steele even chose to live on the streets of Kelowna at the time of his death. 

She had been trying desperately to get help with funding for his cremation and funeral home costs from the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Victim Services, but was stuck jumping through hoops — providing her own bank statements to prove she was living paycheque to paycheque, waiting for days while being passed back and forth between ministries. 

"They needed [Eli's father's] bank statement, even though Eli was in my primary care, I was his primary guardian, so now we're stuck waiting for approval with Rob's bank statement as well," Steele said. "We're no closer to any answers on whether they're going to cover us or not."

That's when a woman Steele describes as "a grandmother figure" to Eli stepped in, setting up a GoFundMe to help. 

Steele wants to thank everyone who reached out and donated in their time of need, and says she is happy that Eli will now get to rest. 

- Chelsea Powrie, Castanet