Final resting place reserved for veterans and active members; will include area for cremated remains
MICHAEL STAPLES
staples.michael@dailygleaner.com
Published Tuesday August 14th, 2007
Appeared on page A3
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/48527
Veterans or active members of the Canadian Armed Forces who pass away or lose their lives while serving their country will soon be honoured with their own special resting area in Oromocto.
The municipality has set aside more than four hectares of land off Leger Street to create the new burial ground.
The non-denominational Oromocto Pioneer Gardens Cemetery, which is expected to be ready for use by next April or May, will have three components to it: a columbarium (a storage area for cremated remains); regular burial sites; and a military field of honour.
Patrick Love, president of the Oromocto Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, supports the establishment of a field of honour.
Having such a place of final rest is particularly relevant considering the danger of missions, such as in Afghanistan, that Canadian Forces currently find themselves engaged in, he said.
"I think it is outstanding from our point of view," Love said. "The closest field of honour (elsewhere) is in Fredericton or Saint John."
The legion will have final say as to who will be allowed to be buried in their section of the cemetery.
Oromocto Mayor Tidd said the creation of a burial ground is overdue.
"For a long time we have had people say that, if they had burial sites here, they would probably have had the remains (of loved ones) buried in Oromocto rather than go back to their home areas."
Work on the site has already started with the clearance of about 1.6 hectares of land.
It's a project the town is taking seriously and one that it's prepared to invest as much as $350,000.
The town hopes to recover the money over time through the sale of plots and spaces, said Tidd.
The municipality has already given the Oromocto Pioneer Gardens Cemetery committee $50,000 to pay for the clearing of the land.
It is also expected to add another $200,000 to the pot in the near future, so that additional work can get underway.
Another $100,000 will be made available next year to complete the project.
Those expenditures, however, have yet to be approved by council.
Tidd said the need for another cemetery in Oromocto came to light prior to her return to the mayor's chair in May 2004.
There are only two cemeteries in the town -- one located at St. Vincent de Paul and the other at St. John's Anglican Church.
Other churches are using a cemetery near the Burton courthouse, but all are beginning to fill up.
Fred Hackett of the Town of Oromocto's technical department said not just any spot can be chosen for a cemetery.
"The requirements for a cemetery area is that the hole be easy to dig and dry," Hackett said.
"Not just any field. You could end up with some white areas, and you could end up with water flowing into the excavation zone and that's not desirable either."
The columbarium, meanwhile, will be the first of its kind for the model town.
Columbariums are structures above grade that have access doors. People can purchase a niche for the storage of cremated remains.
"It's becoming more common," Hackett said.
"In fact, in our research we found that, in the Maritimes, (up) to 50 per cent of funerals are cremations. In the larger cities across Canada, they are in the 80- to 85-per-cent (range)."
Tidd said having a columbarium in town is simply Oromocto's way of keeping up with the times.
"We are hoping that we can get the foundation in this fall for part of the columbarium," Tidd said.
"We are just about ready to say that the foundation can be put in."
The older Heritage Cemetery, situated near the new site, will be connected to the new burial ground in a manner yet to be determined.