FREEDOM
BABIES ARE BURIED HERE
YOU HAVE NO IDEA
LOCKED AWAY AND FORGOTTEN
TEAR IT DOWN
FAMILY
NEVER AGAIN
BELIEVE OUR STORIES
I REMEMBER
IF THE WALLS COULD TALK
POWER
SURVIVOR
FOR-GET-ME-NOT
WE WILL BE HEARD
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
NEVER GIVE UP
MEMORIES
HOPE
COMMUNITY
I HAVE A NAME, NOT A NUMBER
I HAVE A LIFE NOW
INJUSTICE
SLAVE LABOUR
TRUTH
FRIENDS
TRUST
LOVE
WE WERE ABUSED
PEACE
LOSS
FLY AWAY
by Hilary Clark Cole ~ Artist and Metal Sculptor
The Huronia Regional Centre Cemetery across the road from the now-shuttered institution contains the graves of over 2000 people, although only 571 are marked, most with only a number.
In 2018 Hilary Clark Cole, a Canadian professional sculptor in welded steel, was commissioned by Survivors who have formed a group called “Remember Every Name” to create a memorial as a testament to those who were buried there and to those who survived living at Huronia Regional Centre.
The artist’s preparation involved several meetings with the Survivors for their input for the concept. She subsequently created a ‘maquette’, a small version of the monument, which was approved by the group. In collaboration with Steve Sanderson of Signature Memorials, two eleven-foot-tall black granite walls, engraved with powerful words from Survivors, was erected. A Corten Steel welded tree, representing Survivors struggling to live, reaches through a gap high on these imposing walls and emerges on the other side, bursting into life and freedom. Crows take flight from the new leafy branches. Crows are significant to the Survivors; these wise birds would land outside on the windowsills of the institution…they felt that the crows were the only ones who knew what was really happening inside, as witnesses to their pain and suffering.
Titled “If These Walls Could Talk”, the memorial was unveiled and dedicated in August of 2019.
We wish to acknowledge that this website was created thanks to a grant from the Investing in Justice fund. This fund existed because there was money left over from the Huronia Regional Centre class action settlement.
InvestIng in Justice projects enable survivors to tell the world what really happened in Ontario's government-run institutions and what it takes to instead have a good life at home and in their own communities. This fund also enabled the creation of the survivors cemetery monument at the HRC cemetery, and supported "Lost but not Forgotten" Mothers Day memorial gatherings there. Please see our Resource page for information about some of the other projects that benefited from this funding.
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