Beechwood’s Lebanese cemetery was the first section to be considered a community cemetery
In 1994, Beechwood Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Services had a seminal meeting with a monsignor from St. Charbel Maronite Church in Ottawa.
They didn’t know it at the time, but the agreement between Beechwood Cemetery and Msgr. Raymond Hanna to set aside a portion of Beechwood’s 160 acres for members of the Lebanese-Canadian parish would set a kind of template for the expansion and growth of what would become Canada’s national cemetery.
“The idea of creating something specific to what their burial needs would be really was the beginning of our effort to build cemeteries specific to a faith’s or community’s burial needs,” explains James Patterson, Beechwood’s director of family services.
Two hundred lots were set aside for the exclusive use of the St. Charbel parish, the first section within Beechwood to be considered a community cemetery.
With immigration from Lebanon accelerating, 200 more lots were set aside in 2003 for parishioners of St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral and another 200 for the parish of Saints Peter and Paul Melkite Catholic Church.
As Canada has grown and diversified, so has Beechwood Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Services.
Inaccurately regarded as Ottawa’s Anglo-Protestant cemetery, Beechwood has always reflected Canada’s identity as a multicultural, multifaith society. It always took in whoever needed its services and did its best to accommodate a diversity of people of many faiths, languages, cultures and social standing.
Besides Lebanese, Beechwood has sections specifically designed for the Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Latvian, Muslim, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian and Vietnamese communities. Staff speak more than just English and French, including Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Toisan and Chiuchao. Other translators can be arranged.
The Sacred Space is a multifunctional facility conceived after extensive consultations with local religious leaders and the Ontario Multi-faith Council.
Patterson says the arrangements made with Msgr. Hanna “goes to the heart of what we are. We are the National Cemetery of Canada now. Had we not brought in all these different churches and communities, it would never have happened.
“They are absolutely essential to the reason why we were named the National Cemetery of Canada in 2007. It shows the cultural mosaic of Canada.”
Like other sections at Beechwood, the LebaneseCanadian cemeteries have their own icon reflecting the beliefs of those who are buried around it — a statue of the Maronite monk and priest, Saint Charbel Makhlouf.
The Lebanese graves and those of other Canadians who came from far-off lands reflect not only Beechwood’s growth, but the country’s.
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