Before Holy Trinity turns to dust, ashes of dead relocated

There are many things to consider when closing a place of worship.

One of them is ensuring that the remains of deceased people, whether it be bodies buried or ashes scattered in or around church property, are treated with dignity and transferred to another resting place.

An individual who did not want to be identified contacted SooToday earlier this week, concerned that the ashes of people scattered at Holy Trinity Church may not have been properly taken care of in advance of the building's looming demolition.

Holy Trinity Church, an Anglican Church of Canada place of worship located at the corner of Northern Ave. E. at Great Northern Rd., is now owned by the Cara Community Corporation, a non-profit housing corporation.

There are plans for the church to be torn down and for Cara to build affordable housing units on that property at 352/360 Northern Ave. 

Any fears that ashes scattered at the church site have been neglected are unfounded, said an Anglican Church official.  

“We looked after all of this before the land was transferred,” said Archdeacon Jay Koyle, speaking to SooToday.

Koyle is The Anglican Church of Canada Diocese of Algoma executive officer. 

“Everything was taken care of in accordance with the  Bereavement Authority of Ontario. That scattering garden was instituted in 1989 to provide a place where the remains of people who couldn't afford a cemetery plot or a niche in a columbarium could be interred. There were people from Cara that made use of that,” Koyle said.

“Under the provisions of the agreement with Cara the garden was to be moved to a new location off the property so the soil was taken up and it was ultimately moved to the columbarium and the scattering garden at St. Luke’s Cathedral.”

Church officials contacted as many relatives of the deceased people as they could find. 

“They got hold of most people who had loved ones and relatives there. I don’t think they were able to reach everybody but they got hold of most to let them know this was happening and on the morning of June 20, 2019 a ceremony was conducted at the church. The ashes were removed after the ground was dug up to a certain depth,” Koyle said.

Clergy from Holy Trinity Church and St. Luke’s Cathedral attended the ceremony.

“The soil was removed from the garden and transported to St. Luke’s where it was used to top dust the garden in the grounds there. Family members of those whose ashes had been scattered were invited to attend a brief re-interment rite at St. Luke’s at 4 p.m. that day and a number of them did,” Koyle said.

“Since that time other family members that the church had not been aware of were reached out to regarding the status of the scattering garden and each expressed their happiness that their loved ones had been ceremonially relocated to St. Luke’s.” 

Koyle said it was always the Anglican Church’s intention to transfer the ashes and not allow them to be covered by a new building.

“We are very careful how we treat cemeteries. If you pour ashes into a hole that’s considered a burial, so we do all we can to make sure we’re compliant with the Bereavement Authority of Ontario and we are in regular contact with them.”

David Brazeau, the communications manager for the Bereavement Authority of Ontario, provided further confirmation in an email to SooToday.

“We were informed a few years ago that the cremated remains were relocated to a licensed cemetery at St. Luke’s Anglican Cathedral, Sault Ste. Marie, on June 20, 2019,” he wrote. “Family members, of those whose cremated remains had been scattered in the Holy Trinity Anglican Church scattering garden, were invited to attend a brief re-interment rite held at St. Luke’s Cathedral. The Ven. Rev. Dr. Jay Koyle, Diocesan Archdeacon and Executive Officer, Diocese of Algoma, also informed us in a letter that a number of the family members attended."

There is a list of names of people from the Holy Trinity scattering garden on file inside St. Luke’s Cathedral offices, Koyle said.

Koyle said he is not certain if there were any Indigenous people in the scattering garden.

“I can’t say that one of the individuals would have been Indigenous. It was never an Indigenous burial ground.”

“We take that very seriously,” he added.

“We’re quite deliberate about the work of Truth and Reconciliation because it’s an important thing to do for the life of the country," he continued. "And as the Anglican Church we have both Indigenous and non-Indigenous members and with the heritage of the residential school that was here we’ve been very deliberate to partner with the Anishinaabe and the Metis as well.”