Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Coral Harbour (Sep 12/01) - A request has been made to exhume the long-dead body of a girl in Coral Harbour.

Harriet Ford passed away in 1937 due to an unknown illness.

All that is known of the little girl is that she was seven years old and seriously ill at the time of her death.

Ford's grave is located off the corner of the Northern store in Coral.

Coroner Tim Hinds says the spot was originally marked and noted as a grave site, but is now just off the side of a walking path.

The community wants to use the space for a new project, but residents don't want to see anything built on top of the existing grave or see the site destroyed.

"Basically, they want to make sure she's well taken care of, so they've requested we exhume her body and move it to the graveyard," says Hinds.

"We don't know what she died of and she's buried instead of in a cairn, so she may be frozen instead of decomposed. If that's the case, there is some concern something may be released when opening the grave."

The exhumation would be Nunavut's first.

The chief medical officer, Dr. Ann Roberts, says the procedure governing an exhumation falls under the Department of Health and Social Services guidelines and the Vital Statistics Act.

Her role is to rule on any safety issues involved with the procedure and ensure everyone is notified who should be.

"We're talking about a grave here that's more than 60 years old," says Roberts.

"If a body is buried on permafrost, we tend to worry about some communicable diseases. But in talking with people who have actually moved graves, the bodies are skeletonized and there's usually little difficulty."

Hinds says he wants to move quickly before the best time of year to safely relocate the site slips past.

Although one has already come forward to say the family supports the move, Hinds says he's going to try and track down as many family members as he can.

"I'm sure the family wants her (Ford) to join other residents of the community in the regular cemetery, but I want to make sure it isn't just one member authorizing this. I want to ensure the entire family agrees."