Why not decommission cemetery - letter to The Record

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Reprinted below for convenience.


The Record

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Dear Editor:

Did I miss the answer to this question, or has no one asked it?

I've lived in New Westminster for almost 10 years, and the ongoing news story has been the saga of replacing the worn-out high school.

In the meantime, the old Woodlands school/hospital is gone, its cemetery turned into a nice little memorial garden, with names on stone pillars. Decommissioned, I suppose? So what is the problem with the newly discovered ancient cemetery on the high school property? We don't even have names. Just vague ethnic references.

How can Woodlands be so easily decommissioned and the New Westminster Secondary School site not? Politics? Political correctness? Value of certain remains and not others? Big business or big money? Have I missed something?

I'm currently taking a class at the high school and am appalled at the conditions in the outdated, cramped and inadequate classrooms. I can't imagine 30 students, plus backpacks, and a teacher in these tiny rooms.

I think I heard an elected official say that it costs too much to have the cemetery decommissioned. How does that compare with the talked-about loss of the Massey Theatre? (If they don't decommission the cemetery, they need the theatre property to build the new school.)

Very confusing. Anybody got answers?

Barbara Hilstad, New Westminster

© The Record (New Westminster) 2009