Canada's oldest military interment site getting a facelift

Brookside Cemetery's Field of Honour, the largest and oldest military interment site in Canada, is getting a major overhaul.

Beginning Monday, headstones will be removed, cleaned and then set back on new foundations work that will take years to complete as crews move from section by section in the massive cemetery.

The Field of Honour, opened in 1915, has more than 12,000 veterans, servicemen and servicewomen, and war heroes interred alongside each other. The public portion of Brookside Cemetery is one of the oldest in Winnipeg, with the first interment done in 1878.

About 200 graves in the field of honour will be affected during the first phase this year, said Jane Saxby, administrator with the City of Winnipeg cemeteries branch, meaning some areas of the cemetery will be off limits for a period of time.

"What we're hoping is that this piece will only take us a maximum six weeks, but we cannot guarantee anything at this point because this is really a learning path for us," Saxby said. "We do ask that once we're doing construction in the area and it is going to be taped off, that people don't try and access the area because it will be dangerous."

The project will extend the lifespan of the monuments for another 60 years, Saxby said.

Visitors are asked to call the cemetery at 986-4348 before heading down to the location, to find out if the graves of their loved ones are accessible during the renewal project.