Audrey Brooks built a little garden in her front yard, as a way to honour the memories of millions of people she never met.

Then while she slept, vandals wrecked the garden, smashing a 300-pound stone bench.

Passersby would often stop at the memorial bench and garden, Audrey Brooks says. (CBC) "It had to be someone with an intention," said Brooks, who works as a chaplain at the University of Alberta.

The garden was built seven years ago for all the people "who can't speak for themselves," she said. "And we just can't forget them."

Her grandmother was Jewish, and several years ago Brooks travelled to Europe to see the Nazi concentration camps.

After the trip, she came home to build a garden to remember the Holocaust. Later, she decided to expand her vision, and dedicate the garden to all victims of violence.

The garden was fine at 3 a.m. Tuesday, when her neighbour came home from a late shift and parked beside it.

But Brooks woke up to find it wrecked.

She has lived in her home near 154th Street and 99th Avenue for almost three decades.

On the third Sunday each July for the past seven years, people have gathered at her garden for a ceremony to remember the dead.

The rest of the year, the garden was there for anyone who wanted to make use of it.

"It's important to people who pass by," Brooks said. "Some stop and meditate, some even kneel down and pray."

Police say they're investigating but are not treating the incident as a hate crime.

Brooks said she plans to rebuild, and to go on remembering.