Ilakuktutiak Cemetery

A cemetery may be a peculiar place to find peace but I did when I was living up there. One of my duties was to provide the burial places for the dead. Since the ground was iron hard for 11 months of the year burial underground was impossible. The dead were kept in a small building called the dead house until the ground could be dug for a proper burial. I saw the anguish on the faces of the living when their loved ones were put there.

I had a plan to dig a certain number of graves during august and then cover them with plywood until they were required. First I had to get the consent of the Hamlet Elders. In old times the bodies were wrapped in Caribou hides and left on the tundra. With the coming of the white man and the church there was a change and Christian burials were deemed necessary.

A meeting was held and the elders with some reluctance gave me the go ahead to try the scheme. It worked and the community loved the idea of being to have the whole ceremony at one time. We had to make sure that we had enough graves ready and that was the only sore point. Some Elders had the feeling that if we had 10 graves ready they would be filled. I tried to have this process passed at the general assembly but it never flew.

I paid particular pride in the dignity expressed by the condition of the local graveyard. Each grave was marked by a cross with the name and age of the occupant. These crosses were made and painted by the local church. A master grave site register was assembled and the Elders and family members helped to complete the task.

Often I would visit the grave site to check for vandalism and record needed repairs. Because of the perma frost caskets would come to the surface and had to placed in a new site. It was usually quiet there and My dog Buck would go from one grave to the next as if to read the names. Foxes lived nearby and I could feed them by hand. These little animals are sometimes numerous and become a bother to the hamlet.

When I visit new areas cemetery's give me a history lesson and become a resource of knowledge.Our cemetery in Cape Breton is a must visit and brings back so many memories of loved ones.That is probably why I took good care of the one up north.