Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After years of putting it off city council is finally going forward with requests to build a monument-style structure for cremated remains in Lakeview Cemetery.

The construction of the columbarium, an installation which holds cremated remains above ground, is expected to cost the city $75,000 and is slated to be completed in mid-August.

The city hopes the installation will help address some space issues at Lakeview cemetery, which is owned by the city.

"The cemetery is quickly filling up and space is really at quite a premium so this is sort of a positive step toward using that space a little more efficiently," said city councillor Mark Heyck, adding the columbarium also serves as a tribute.

The columbarium, which will have 100 spaces for cremated remains, will be built on the back portion of the cemetery. In the front of the installation there will be a large cement pad with benches for visitors to "sit and reflect."

Once the installation is finished council expects upkeep on it will cost the city $4,000 in staff time and $1,000 for materials per year.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said there was strong support for the project.

"It's been requested every year for the last six years by a group of residents who have ashes of relatives in their house and they want a permanent resting spot. It has also been requested by the funeral director because she gets the front line questions," said Van Tighem.

The initiative has made it into previous budgets but was bumped for more pressing items.

Longtime resident Mickey Brown has been pushing for the project since the spring of 2008.

The idea for the columbarium came to Brown after the death of her husband, Yellowknife philanthropist and Order of Canada recipient Clarence "Shorty" Brown, in 2007.

Brown and her daughter had started spending more time at the cemetery and found that Yellowknifers wanted a place for the ashes of their loved ones so she decided to take up the cause.

During her quest to make a columbarium a reality at Lakeview, Brown enlisted the help of McKenna Funeral Home director, Janice McKenna. McKenna backed up Brown's request by writing a letter to the city and by speaking with city council on the subject.

But despite her support McKenna said she feels Brown's proposal doesn't go far enough. She would like it if the city could do more to develop Lakeview Cemetery, she added.

"What I would like to see is more of a mausoleum so that there is a building particularly for above ground burial and for cremated remains so that people have a place to go inside to visit their loved ones who have died," McKenna said.

Brown said she too would like to see more done at the cemetery. In particular, she would like to have a crematorium built in Yellowknife so that residents can avoid the high costs associated with shipping the body of their loved one out of province.

Nonetheless, Brown said she is pleased with council's plan for the new columbarium, adding the location they chose is perfect.

"It took a while," Brown said. "But if I take something on I never give up."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.