Gravesite keepsakes cleaned away at Brooks Cemetery

Brenda Jones comes to the Brooks Cemetery to visit her son she lost nearly 24 years ago.

Christopher was nearing four years old when he died suddenly in his sleep. There had been no signs of illness and the loss changed their lives forever.

Jones was heartbroken when she arrived at his gravesite this weekend and discovered it had been cleaned up.

“I cried, I cried. I saw that they invaded my son’s site,” Jones explained. They rummaged through his flower beds and they took things out of there that were attached and had no right to touch.”

The city’s mayor says the cleanup was supposed to be a continuation of past practices.

They made a few changes to the Cemetery Services Bylaw in May, and council was satisfied with the plans, and the changes were not really related to maintenance.

Though following the tidy, sentimental belongings like ornaments, vases, and special keepsakes were placed in black bags for families to collect.

Residents look through items at Brooks Cemetery

“It’s not right that the things that were supposed to be special and private for my son were in a garbage bag by a toilet where everybody who was looking for what they need from their loved ones was just rummaging through it,” Jones added.

Jacqueline Kay visits the Brooks Cemetery quite often.

Her 17-year-old daughter Meghan was killed three days before graduation in a car crash on her way to school in 2006.

“This is my daughter and this is how I can honour her,” Kay said.

She also has a cross at the site of the crash which the county lets her maintain on their land.

So she finds the clean-up at the cemetery very upsetting.

“I feel very disrespected and I don’t think these people are truly understanding how people feel about not being able to honour their loved ones,” Kay explained.

Kay adds the moment of connection is lost when you’re not able to place special keepsakes of remembrance.

“I know there are kids who have lost parents and they love to come and put trinkets on their mother’s site and this is their way of staying connected to their mom,” Kay added.

Mayor Barry Morishita says while a few changes were made to the bylaw, what happened at the cemetery appears to be internal miscommunication.

“Certainly not council’s intention or the city’s intention to hurt anybody or personally cause them any grief. As I said, I think it’s an operational issue that happened, unfortunately,” the mayor explained.

Morishita also has loved ones at the cemetery, adding that the city is owning up to their mistake and will do better going forward.

He says the city’s CAO will release a statement on Tuesday with more on what happened.

“It’s almost like somebody has broken into your home and gone through the stuff in your bedroom, you feel violated. Well, I feel violated that they did this to my son,” Jones told Chat News.

“We’re very sorry that people have to go through this,” Morishita added.

(with files from Tiffany Goodwein/Chat News)

by Chantal Wagner

Gravesite keepsakes cleaned away at Brooks Cemetery

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