New Iqaluit cemetery to reflect Inuit traditions

This aerial photo shows the location of Iqaluit’s new cemetery, near where the Road to Nowhere crosses the Apex River. Overlaid on the photo is a graphic outline of the proposed cemetery, based on consultant Catherine Berris’s design option four, which has received most community support. (PHOTO PROVIDED BY CITY OF IQALUIT)

This computer-generated photo shows the design of Iqaluit’s new cemetery, where the Road to Nowhere crosses the Apex River. Overlaid on the photo is a graphic depiction of paths, cross and grave markers of natural local stone with metal plaques, based on consultant Catherine Berris’s design option four, which has received the most community support. (PHOTO PROVIDED BY CITY OF IQALUIT)

Iqaluit is going “au naturel” with the look of its new cemetery on the Road to Nowhere.

The design will retain as many of the cemetery site’s natural tundra features as possible, Vancouver-based consultant Catherine Berris told city council in an Aug. 11 presentation.

It will use locally gathered rock as grave markers, for benches, and to delineate the entrance, pathways and rest areas.

The new cemetery is to be developed near the end of the Road to Nowhere, just before it crosses the Apex River.

It will replace the current cemetery near the beach east of the breakwater, which after 40 years of use is nearly full.

Councilor Al Hayward noted that council has spent a lot of time debating different sites for the replacement cemetery.

Once council makes its final choice between four design options, city staff hope to get started on construction this fall.

Berris met with church representatives, members of the trails and walkways committee and others during a visit to Iqaluit last June. She also visited the current cemetery.

Back in town last week, she showed her designs — based on what she heard in June — to elders and church officials, as well as in a public display at Northmart.

Then, on Aug. 11, she presented four different design options for the new cemetery to council. All of them feature:

• looping pathways and open circular forms for the overall layout;
• the use of traditional forms and symbols as inspiration and links with the past;
• a prominent entry gateway and one large cross, also prominently displayed;
• natural stone from the site to be used for grave markers; and
• pedestrian access kept separate from vehicular service roads.

The original plan was to have all graves face southeast according to an Inuit tradition — the direction of the rising winter sun.

But after visiting Qaummaarviit Territorial Park, a heritage Inuit campsite near Peterhead Inlet that was occupied for several hundred years and also includes a burial ground, Berris loosened her approach to grave siting.

At Qaummaarviit, Michèle Bertol, the city’s director of lands and planning, told Nunatsiaq News, they found not all graves faced southeast. Some were oriented towards the sea, “but mostly they took the best advantage of the site itself,” she said.

And when Berris consulted local elders, they agreed that the Inuit way is to do what the land suggests, rather than restrict siting to one direction.

The design options for Iqaluit’s new cemetery all emphasize retaining the natural tundra qualities of the site, minimizing built structures, and using traditional cultural forms and symbols, and natural materials wherever possible.

The plan is to use tall, standing rocks to delineate the outer boundaries of the cemetery especially in phase one, so they will still be visible during winter snow cover and snowmobilers will know not to cross.

The cemetery will be developed in three phases, with each phase separated by some tundra.

The real challenge, Berris said, is to allow both grave-digging machinery and the hearse access to the grave sites without destroying the tundra.

In the south, she said, grass will grow back quickly after it’s disturbed by machinery. But Arctic tundra faces a tougher challenge and takes much longer to recover.

Hayward said he would like to see cost estimates for the various designs before council chooses one design.

But according to both Berris and Bertol, there will be very little cost difference between any of the four designs.

“We tried to minimize moving land and adding built structures as much as possible to minimize costs,” Berris said.

Bertol said her recommendation to council at its next meeting, based on feedback received from the community, will be for Option Four.

It features a more free-flowing design than the others, with gathering areas on a pathway running through the central spine of the cemetery and hearse access in a large meandering loop around the outside.