KAHNAWAKE, QUE. - On Thanksgiving Sunday last year, Rosie Simonfalvy and her sister Annie Nattaq arrived outside the United church in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Que. After waiting five decades and travelling thousands of kilometres, they were finally just a short walk from the burial site of their sister, Mary Unga.

In the 1950s, at least 16 Inuit tuberculosis patients were laid to rest in the cemetery of Kahnawake United Church on the Mohawk reserve near Montreal. The congregation consecrated a simple gravestone-shaped monument in their memory last September. - photo courtesy of Samantha Rideout Not Forgotten At least 16 Inuit are buried in the cemetery at Kahnawake United, located on a Mohawk reserve in Quebec. Please note that some of these names may have been misspelled or spelled phonetically in the church records. * Kapic, Nutsuk, Negesgaa, Napatchee, Eeleeseepee and Shuvaloo of Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit). * Mary Snowball, Linda Gordon and Sequaluk Harriett of Fort Chimo (now Kuujjuaq). * Tatkreapik of Kaorbac, Hudson Bay. *Enos Peter Onarlik of Gerom, Labrador. * Napathee of the Northwest Territories. * Hadla of Cape Dorset. * Eeshooloota of Pangnirtung. * Mary Unga of Baffin Island. * Eelookootak (no place of origin named).

When the women finally found their sister's name, they cried. "To be able to see the grave and touch the stone after so many years - that was very special," said Simonfalvy. "It wasn't a closure, exactly, but I have a more peaceful heart now."

Mary Unga died from tuberculosis on April 7, 1958, at the age of 19.

In the 1950s, thousands of sick people went south for treatment, and many of those who died were buried in southern graves without their relatives' knowledge. But since last September, a monument in Kahnawake has proclaimed the names of the Inuit who wound up in the town's Protestant cemetery.

Back then, those who tested positive for TB were brought south for quarantine and treatment at sanatoriums. Located in cities such as Hamilton, Quebec City and Montreal, these specialized hospitals provided the best TB treatment known at the time.

When patients died, the Department of Northern Affairs was supposed to make sure their families were notified, but government record-keeping was often disorganized, so many people never learned the fate of their relatives.

Rev. Maureen Scott Kabwe, the minister of Kahnawake United Church, says when she first learned about the handling of the Inuit TB outbreak, she noticed some parallels with the Indian residential school system.

"I just find it so typical of the mindset of the time," she said. "There was a lack of respect for the integrity of people's families."

At least 16 Inuit patients were laid to rest in Kahnawake United's cemetery. They had travelled to Montreal to be treated for TB and other illnesses. The reason they wound up on the nearby Mohawk reserve is likely because the federal government's local Indian agent was put in charge of their burials.

Each year, the congregation of Kahnawake United holds a service at the cemetery in memory of parishioners who have died.

"A few years ago, people started talking about the Inuit at these services," Scott Kabwe said. "Some of them could recall their funeral services. It became obvious that they cared about these people - it was something that had been affecting them for a long time."

"Here in Kahnawake, we are very close, and when there's a death, the community feels it," said Doris Montour, an elder and a member of the church's board. "So I think it's sad that [the Inuit] are here and their families have no idea where they are. How awful it must be."

That's why the board was very receptive when Arlene Delaronde, a retired social worker from the community, suggested the church commemorate the deceased Inuit with a monument. Scott Kabwe prepared by digging through old handwritten church records to find out all she could about the 16 individuals named on the headstones. Meanwhile, church member Allan Patton collected flat stones from the St. Lawrence River for two small inuksuuk to mark the boundaries of the burial space.

Finally, the congregation consecrated a simple gravestone-shaped monument last September in the presence of a few dozen onlookers. It read, "In loving memory of our Inuit brothers and sisters buried here 1950-1959. May they rest in peace."

Both Simonfalvy and Gordon are grateful to the parishioners and elders in Kahnawake.

"We are happy our relatives haven't been forgotten — even by people who didn't know them," said Gordon. "To have people looking after their resting place is an honour for us."

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