Father's gravestone toppled
Bob Wilson not angry at officials but upset to find out about damage through media
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife man says it is unfortunate he learned from a Yellowknifer reporter that his father's headstone had been knocked over at Lakeview Cemetery.
Bob Wilson inspects his father William Wilson's damaged headstone at Lakeview Cemetery last Friday. The headstone was one of two that were damaged after they were apparently hit by a vehicle. Wilson said he learned of the damage from a Yellowknifer reporter. RCMP were notified of the incident on Jan. 15. They continue to investigate. - John McFadden/NNSL photo |
He added he is not laying any blame for not being officially notified about the damage.
Bob Wilson, accompanied by the reporter, went to the cemetery last Friday to dig out the headstone from the snow and survey the damage, which was reported to RCMP on Jan. 15.
His father, William Wilson's headstone was one of two that had been toppled, apparently by a vehicle.
"I feel saddened that this happened - that for a week now my father's headstone has been lying in the snow and we didn't find out about it until the (Jan. 20) paper came out," Wilson said. "My mother arranged for the grave before she died. She would have been on the contract or the registry so it may have been hard for them to find next of kin."
Wilson said he doesn't know who would be responsible for notifying him of the damage, or what the protocol is for getting it fixed.
"We would have found out in due course," he said. "If my mother was still alive they probably would have contacted her."
Wilson, whose father was interred in the cemetery in 1974, said he would like to think what happened was not intentional. But at the same time he wishes whomever is responsible would have reported the damage.
"Even if they were drinking and didn't want to get caught, they could have put an anonymous call to say somebody had run over some headstones," Wilson said. "It appeared to me that they drove quite deliberately though that area."
Wilson said he is not sure who will be financially responsible for making the repairs.
"I suspect we will have to wait until spring to get in there, and because the headstone appears to be cracked - we'll probably have to replace it. These things are quite expensive," Wilson said.
He added his brother also found out about the damage in the paper and they had contacted two sisters living in Alberta to tell them what had happened.
The cemetery is owned and maintained by the city but people buy individual plots.
Yellowknifer reached out to the city to ask whether a protocol exists to alert plot holders to damaged or toppled monuments, and whether the city has reached out to anybody about the damage. In an e-mail to Yellowknifer, city spokesperson Nalini Naidoo declined to respond to these questions.
According to the city's cemetery bylaw, the city is not responsible or liable for damage to a cemetery monument but the city does keep a record of the names of those buried as well as the name, mailing address and telephone number of next of kin.
The bylaw also calls for a $500 "voluntary" fine for defacing a monument.
In response to a question asking to clarify what the term "voluntary fine" means in the city bylaw, Naidoo advised Yellowknifer to contact RCMP.
RCMP stated in a news release last week they were notified about the damage on Jan. 15, adding it is unclear when it happened.
RCMP spokesperson Const. Robert Frizzell said police notified the city of the damage.
"The rationale would be that the property would be the city's even though it's obviously individual people's tombstones ... They have the records and contacts," said Frizzell.
"From the RCMP and human standpoint, that would be a crummy way to find out but we don't have access to which plot would be registered to who."
RCMP stated there are no suspects as of press time and the police continue to investigate.
