Indigenous Cemetery (1946-1969)

The Indigenous Cemetery is located in the southeast portion of the St. Albert Municipal Cemetery. The 98 Indigenous Charles Camsell Hospital patients from the Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, were buried here between 1946 and 1969. This portion of the cemetery was originally acquired in 1920 by the Federal Government (as represented by the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs); in 1971, it was transferred to the Province (as represented by Alberta Public Works) and then to the City of St. Albert in 1979.

As part of this transfer, the City was obligated to “restore and maintain” the area. As part of the restoration processes, existing burial markers and wooden crosses, which once stood to honour the Charles Camsell Hospital patients buried here, were removed, and the area was landscaped.

On June 22, 1990, a service was held to dedicate the memorial cairn to those 98 individuals interred here. The establishment of the cairn and the service were collaboratively planned by the Memorial Cairn Committee, including former Charles Camsell Hospital staff and former residential school staff, the funeral director, the landscape architect (John Beetle) and the City Clerk. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the Government of Northwest Territories, the Government of Alberta, the City of St. Albert, Reverend Cutting and Archdeacon Kerr.

Open Ceremony for Memorial Cairn
June 20, 1990, Memorial Cairn Service. Memorial Committee Members pictured L-R: Dr. Schaefer, Elva Taylor, Maxine LeClair, & Don McBride.

Three individuals’ grave markers were placed in the area through inquiries from their family members between 1993 and 2019. In 2022, the City was part of Inuvialuit Regional Corporation’s Nanilavut Initiative, which is a federally supported initiative to locate burials of Inuit who passed away after being sent to various healthcare facilities, such as the Charles Camsell Hospital, during the 1940-1960’s tuberculosis epidemic. Through this, seven Inuvialuit were honored through ceremony and the placement of individual grave markers in the cemetery.