Neglected prison graveyard restored in shadow of condos
New Westminster task force spearheaded work in Glenbrook Ravine Parklands
Among the men buried in a once-overgrown, nearly forgotten cemetery in the shadow of condominiums north of downtown New Westminster lies Lewis Colquhoun, a one-time partner of “gentleman train robber” Bill Miner.
Colquhoun was one of dozens of inmates of the long-shuttered B.C. Penitentiary who were buried there between 1913 and 1968 after their bodies went unclaimed by friends or family. The prison cemetery, in the Glenbrook Ravine Parklands, is a historic site that a City of New Westminster task force physically restored over the past two years and prepared to unveil Wednesday evening.
Members of the task force cleaned headstones by hand, installed interpretive signs and located several unmarked graves during the restoration effort. The work was much needed, said Jaimie McEvoy, head of the task force and a city councillor.
“It’s been neglected. The land was transferred to the city when the prison was closed (in 1980) as kind of a formality. … It became a very overgrown, bushy area and just forgotten, really. The only people who really knew about it were a handful of people at the B.C. Pen itself,” McEvoy said.
Colquhoun, who is likely the cemetery’s most recognizable occupant, was buried in an unmarked grave, said McEvoy.
“They were folk heroes,” he said of Colquhoun and Miner. “And they robbed trains as gentlemen. They carried guns but they never shot at anybody, which was a very deliberate decision on their part. They were always polite with people. It’s said that they invented the phrase ‘hands up.’ ”
Most occupants of the cemetery died in their 40s and 50s, McEvoy said. The leading causes of death were suicide and tuberculosis, which “may speak to prison conditions at the time,” he added. Prisoners made the coffins and the nails and they dug the graves.
Among the 47 people whose burial sites could be identified was Gordon Hawley, prisoner No. 8869. He went to jail after being convicted of stealing $15 of socks, McEvoy said. Joseph Smith, prisoner 1433, and Herman Wilson, 1629, each had attempted to escape from jail. Five other men were Doukhobors who were sent to prison for public nudity. A man named Sook Silas was once an occupant of the cemetery, but he was repatriated to a First Nation in the B.C. Interior, McEvoy said.
Bill Chu, the head of the Canadians for Reconciliation Society, applauded the city’s restoration work, but said he believed it had offered an opportunity for deeper reconciliation work between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.
To that end, Chu helped plan a grassroots event at the cemetery for 4 p.m. on Wednesday — two hours before the city’s official event — to acknowledge part of the site’s Indigenous history, including telling the story of Jonnie Peter, prisoner 880, who Chu said had been a member of the Penelakut First Nation.
Asked about Chu’s concerns, McEvoy said he agreed with the general direction of his organization, but said in this case the city had been in contact with First Nations about the work it was doing.
In all, 15 First Nations were invited to Wednesday’s event, including the local Qayqauyt First Nation, McEvoy said.