Old Canadian Cemeteries: Places of Memory.

Ian A. Andrews is a high-school social sciences teacher and editor of the New Brunswick Teachers’ Association’s Focus.

On the surface, browsing through photographs and text that feature cemeteries probably does not appeal to the average reader. But bypassing this extraordinary volume because its content relates to death and the ways our ancestors commemorated the ending of a life would be a mistake. In Old Canadian Cemeteries: Places of Memory author Jane Irwin and photographer John de Visser have constructed a magnificently researched and profusely illustrated volume that, despite its potentially morbid subject matter, could easily serve as a prized coffee-table selection.

Irwin sees a cemetery as an important ingredient in our history, one that provides historical context: “A graveyard sets our present in the once and future continuum of other people’s lives.” It should be viewed not simply as an end or final resting place, but as one stage in the evolving history of the nation, a place that provides solace for contemplation and reflection: “Set apart from the mundane pressures of our everyday lives, [cemeteries] have an inherent power to provide a brief respite from temporary concerns and a chance to see our own life in a longer perspective.”

Old Canadian Cemeteries is organized into thematic sections, each following a roughly chronological order: “Changing Burial Traditions” explores different ways to bury the dead, from First Nations mounds and cairns to cremation and green burials; “Ancestral Ties” highlights historic graveyards used by various immigrant groups from Acadians and United Empire Loyalists to Ukrainians, Japanese, and Jews; “Exploring Canada’s Historic Cemeteries” features national landmarks like the huge 280-acre Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, and the Old Burying Ground in Halifax; and “National Memory” contains tributes to those who lost their lives in various wars and disasters.

The meaning behind symbols and designs, the types of markers chosen, and the various materials used, from wood to stone, bronze to granite, are thoroughly discussed. Photographs in “A Visual Tour” show similarities and variations in landscaping over time. In Old Canadian Cemeteries: Places of Memory Jane Irwin and John de Visser have provided a benchmark volume that, despite its sombre subject matter, illuminates the history and heritage of the Canadian nation.