Society helps locate unmarked graves in Iqaluit
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Feb 26/01) - Lew Philip's father flew from Arctic Bay to Iqaluit for medical reasons over 30 years ago. He never returned.
Philip, who was a teenager at the time, still seems overcome with emotion when talking about the death of his father, Tungulaq.
"We heard he passed away, but we never heard any more details about it," said Philip, who now lives in Iqaluit.
The lack of explanation surrounding Tungulaq's death was extremely hard for the family all those years ago.
The family knows he's buried in the Iqaluit cemetery but the exact location is unknown because his grave was never marked.
"It feels sad to talk about it. There's a big hole there," said Philip. "I would like to hear about how it happened and why they didn't send the body back up. I've still got a lot of questions. "He's my father and I have a right to know."
Philip's sister, Rebekah Uqi Williams, also wants answers. She said she and her 10 siblings and mother need information to help deal with Tungulaq's death.
"It's been a very long time. We know he's not alive anymore, but knowing where he is would help us to put closure to it," said Williams. "That's very important to all of us. It's like he's just sort of gone," she said.
Search for who is missing
Unfortunately, many others also have loved ones buried in the cemetery and cannot find their grave because they were never marked. And some sites may have been covered when a road through the burial ground was expanded several years ago.
People throughout the Baffin had a tough time finding answers to questions about their relatives until Niksiit -- a municipal social issues committee -- started looking into the matter. recently.
"The issue has been looked at a number of times before, but it has never been carried to completion where all the graves have been identified," said Glenn Williams, a town councillor and a member of Niksiit.
The municipality of Iqaluit began to map out the cemetery in 1993, and Glenn said the society hoped to build upon previous efforts.
He said the first step is to figure out who is missing.
The society wants those who have a family member buried in the Iqaluit cemetery, but are unsure of the location, to come forward with some information.
"(We need to know) the person's named who was buried, the approximate age, if they were male or female and when they died -- month and year are good enough. If they have the date, even better."
When a list of names is compiled, it will be compared to Anglican and Roman Catholic Church records and the 1993 map.
While the task ahead is daunting and requires sensitivity, Glenn said it is essential to the matter be resolved.
Phil Quinton, the lands administrator for Iqaluit, said the town set aside $11,000 to hire a summer employee to assist in the endeavour.
Quinton said the person hired for the summer will put together a catalogue that will give officials an estimate of how just many people remain unidentified.
"The first step is to figure out the scope of what we're dealing with," said Quinton. "It's still in the planning stages."
