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WILLIAM FELEPCHUK
or great uncle. I know the people there that day were quite angry [...] it is also
troubling having in the back of your head that it could happen again anytime,
even though there are solutions to this problem"."7
Another way that the Cheslatta have undertaken the work of memory in
order to redeem the past is through devising solutions to the ongoing problem
of flooding. They have repeatedly suggested to Alcan that the company could
route the water through a different waterway that would not further flood
their remaining cemetery sites. In the words of Robertson: “we want some
comfort that man-made water flows that are ripping through our valley
wont continue". Another attempt to redeem the past has been made by
the Cheslatta via efforts to obtain redress on behalf of the community. In
2019, these efforts were successful, leading to the BC government to agree
to provide restitution to the Cheslatta, including funds for “environmental
restoration, as well as land transfers and support for cultural and language
programs”. However, such important work is connected to the grimmest
work of memory: the continuing return of kin from the lake-grave to which
they were relegated by the requirements of aluminum smelting. According to
Chief Corrina Leween, “We still find bones along the lake. We collect them
and bring them back to our community”.””
Like the consecrated lake in Cheslatta territory, the Bethel Union Cemetery
contains an undifferentiated space of consecration. The mound of bones and
remains, bulldozed in the mid-20" century, is today covered with periwinkles
and wild violets, plants typical of the necrobotany of burial places. The mound
has remained untouched in restoration efforts, consecrated as a collective
resting place. The work of memory at Bethel Union Cemetery has involved
much collective commemoration including the emancipation star, which is
“dedicated to the unknown A frican-Canadians who made their way to freedom
or died trying”, and frequent mention of “unmarked and mass graves.””!
Black communities throughout Southern Ontario have sought to reclaim and
restore cemetery sites and thereby reconnect to an element of Canadian history
that is threatened with erasure. As Glen Cook notes, “I just want some acknow¬
ledgment that this is an old cemetery site.””* Lloyd Dean, Windsor judge and
great grandson of Delos Rogest Davis, the first black lawyer in Canada buried in
New Canaan Cemetery, observed that “[y]ou feel there is something significant
Hume, Native Band Rushes to save grave markets from floodwaters.
68 Ibid.
Trumpener, Homes burned, cemetery flooded.
7 Tbid.
Forsyth, Bruce, Cemetery honours the early multi-racial pioneers of Sunnidale Township,
July 2018, https://militarybruce.com/cemetery-honours-the-early-multi-racial-pioneers-of¬
sunnidale-township/ (accessed 8 April 2020).
My emphasis. CBC, Black cemetery in Lakeshore ‘built over and neglected’, CBC News, 27
February 2015.
* 240 +