This article was previously published on GuelphToday.
Miles Cikvar was full of joy, a free spirit, a jokester, an artist and a friend to many.
He died in Guelph on Friday at the St. George's Square encampment, as did another person, likely due to drug poisoning. Cikvar was 20-years-old and lived in Guelph for just over a year.
Prior, he lived in places like Shelburne, Montreal and Toronto. Cikvar’s family has been receiving calls, emails and messages from friends from all over after hearing he died.
He knew who he was and was outspoken, said Wendy Sykes, Cikvar's great aunt, who considers herself to be his mom. Sykes said she raised him since he was eight-months-old and raised him to be outspoken and speak about his feelings.
“I’m not going to change and this is who I am,” Sykes said Cikvar would say.
Cikvar was transgender and involved with the LGBTQIA+ community. He knew he was transgender at 13-years-old, said Sykes. He’s always been the same person with his demeanour and heart always open. He didn’t judge any person in his life and would help anyone he could.
He wasn’t the type who would worry about himself but cared a lot about others. Sykes wishes she knew earlier how involved with the Guelph community he was.
Whether it be food, clothes or cigarettes Cikvar would give these things to his friends who needed them.
“I love you deeper than the ocean, higher than the sky, more than the universe,” Sykes said Miles would tell her.
He enjoyed drawing and was very talented.
For a smaller stature person he could eat like he was “six foot five and 275 pounds or something,” said Sykes. He could eat non-stop and enjoyed Kraft dinner, ramen, corn, fruits and vegetables.
“He loved to socialize and meet people and get his hands wet and all kinds of things. Tons of friends,” said Sykes. She took him to see his good friend in Mississauga in August, who he has known since elementary school but hadn’t seen in a couple of years.
Whenever one of his siblings was hurt he would be right there and would be emotional about it. “And (if) anyone was down and out, he would be right there trying to cheer you up, making them laugh, making a joke, console you. Give you a hug. Give you a kiss,” said Sykes.
He leaves behind six siblings and many more family members and friends.
Friend Sarah George met Cikvar when he came to Guelph and he was able to stay at their place for about a month, while also cat sitting. They got connected through people George knew, who knew they were a local queer parent that has a soft spot for young queer and trans people.
Cikvar would pick up George’s child from school when they were working late and would draw and play video games too. When Cikvar didn’t stay at George’s any longer he would check-in with phone calls, text messages, voice notes and selfies.
“It was really important to him to keep in touch with people and even though he struggled, as a lot of people do, even (those) who haven't been through the kinds of traumas he had, to feel deserving of love. I think he knew how much people cared about him and how much people worried about him and felt the same way about his friends,” said George.
He spent time at a Wyndham House shelter and he also tried to access resources and get rehabilitated for his drug use.
“Every time he needed supports and he was willing to get them, they weren't kind of readily available. I think people have this idea from TV, oh, you do an intervention, and then they go to rehab, right that day, and that's just not the reality. It's just not the reality,” said George.
He tried to get connected to services … “it's just unfortunately in our city and with the provincial government that we have, they've taken this stand that people who use drugs, people with mental health issues, are dangerous people and they're not,” said George.
George doesn’t blame any of the support workers who tried to help him, but does have hard feelings toward the city about his death. “It was so public where it all happened that a lot of people were impacted," they said.
George and Cikvar’s family went to St. George’s Square the Saturday after he died to talk to the people who knew him and set up a memorial. George said everyone at the encampment knew Cikvar and a couple of the women told them he was like their own child.
After some bad weather George went back to St. George’s Square to gather the memorial items since the battery operated candles and photo frames were damaged because of the weather. When they brought them home, they looked in the bags and the lights were glowing again.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Cikvar to raise money for his funeral expenses.
