Cemetery Conference Honours Aboriginal Heritage

Cemetery Conference Honours Aboriginal Heritage

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 14:07

Restoring and respecting Aboriginal cemeteries was the topic of a conference held in Regina yesterday.

Joe Bear, president of Aboriginal Memorials Incorporated, was a keynote speaker at the conference.

He says the conference is a first step in putting together a program to address the loss of the history contained in cemeteries.

“When we have loved ones that have passed on… what we have to start looking at is preserving the ancestry, preserving their names, preserving the beautiful memories that reflect that individual. And it’s unfortunate that within many of our communities, within many of our families, we’re losing track of that,” says Bear.

Bear says the biggest problem is the lack of resources and funding.

He says many Aboriginal communities face challenges in coming up with the money to properly bury their relatives.

Bear is calling on all levels of government to advocate for money to help restore and maintain cemeteries.