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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 acknowledgment 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-ofsunnidale-township/ (accessed 8 April 2020). My emphasis. CBC, Black cemetery in Lakeshore ‘built over and neglected’, CBC News, 27 February 2015. * 240 +
