Understanding Cemetery and Burial Site Investigations in Ontario Inside a cemetery is Bereavement Authority of Ontario, outside a cemetery is the Ministry of Government and Consumer Service (MGCS) – or is it that simple?  Generally speaking, burial site investigations are the jurisdiction of the Registrar for Burial Sites at MGCS until the site is declared a cemetery and registered.  Cemeteries assessments are often required to satisfy the development approval condition or under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act (2002) if within the limits of a cemetery.  If a cemetery assessment uncovers human remains located outside a registered cemetery, then the process follows that for burial site investigations.  Each situation is unique, but there are some general guidelines that can be followed when determining who to contact when addressing cemetery…

Indigenous Rights in the Discovery of Human Remains in Ontario II As we wrote in part one of this blog last week, when replaced in 2002 the sections specific to the burial site process in the Cemeteries Act (Revised) only received cosmetic changes. The one substantive change incorporated into the burial site process was not in the legislation itself, but the associated regulation that specified that a professionally licensed archaeologist was required to complete a burial site investigation. The new legislation did not address several critical shortcomings: * A professionally licensed archaeologist and a provincial official (Registrar) decide without any consultation whether human remains represent a formal burial; * A provincial official without any consultation decides which Indigenous community(ies) will represent the Ancestor(s) discovered at a burial site; * In…

Indigenous Rights in the Discovery of Human Remains in Ontario  …but they [archaeologists and government representatives] wished at the same time to win a recognition from the Native [Indigenous] people that archaeologists were not wicked despoilers of the dead, but really intelligent, disciplined and involved students of the past Dr. Doug Tushingham, Royal Ontario Museum, 1977. One of the most explicit reminders of the colonialist legacy of archaeology in Ontario is the process set out under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act (2002). The FBCSA, proclaimed into force on July 1, 2012, is the most recent iteration of the legislation governing the discovery, investigation and disposition of human remains that are accidentally discovered in the province. Its predecessor, the Cemeteries Act (Revised) was an early example of Indigenous participation…

Unmarked Cemeteries of London

The Lost and Found of Material Heritage through Flooding   Last month we documented the impact fires can have on documentary and material heritage. This month we discuss the impacts and opportunities that flooding generates. Although we didn’t feature it last month, focusing instead on destructive outcomes, fire can also lead to positive heritage outcomes, one example being the work of the Skeetchestn community and archaeologist Joanne Hammond after this year’s forest fires in British Columbia. This “post-fire” survey is an innovative approach to archaeology that replicates recent post-flood surveys in other parts of the country. However, like fire, flooding also threatens collections of heritage materials. Natural Disasters to Plumbing and Drainage Failures to Intentional Large-scale Floods In addition the widespread effects of watercourse flooding cycles and the effects of…