City to squeeze more space out of old cemetery

Iqaluit city council voted this week to make room this summer for as many as 24 new grave sites at the community’s old cemetery, buying more time to properly prepare a new cemetery site in the West 40.

They plan to create roughly eight to 16 new grave sites by removing a storage shed at the north-east corner of the old cemetery. If they need more space, they say they can create at least another eight sites by removing a turn-circle for vehicles in the middle of the cemetery.

The exact number of new grave sites that could be created depends on rock formations under the ground, and accessibility for back-hoe vehicles.

Ian Fremantle, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the city’s new cemetery site, in the West 40 area below a knoll occupied by Telesat Canada satellite dishes, won’t be ready this year.

That’s because the city needs to do more drainage work, wait for a layer of sand to become more compact, and consult more with Iqaluit residents and churches.

The city’s acting director of public works, Chris Freda, was scheduled to ask city council’s public works committee to support the plan at a noon meeting this past Monday, but the committee could not form a quorum.

But the matter was brought up again at Tuesday evening’s council meeting, when council approved the removal of the storage shed.

As for the new cemetery site in the West 40, city council chose it earlier this year, after years of consultation and discussion of various options.