Vaughan church grieves for bones unearthed to build pool

Vaughan golf club’s construction sours 185th anniversary of heritage church cemetery next door.

Thestar.com
Nov. 18, 2015
By Noor Javed

Cathy Pearson never thought her words would come true.

The longtime parishioner at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Thornhill sent an odd letter to the City of Vaughan over the summer. Protesting plans by the Thornhill Golf and Country Club to construct an in-ground pool and cabana just a few feet away from Holy Trinity Cemetery, one of the oldest in the city, she ended her letter with a unique wish: for the project to unearth human remains.

Earlier this fall, when the club began digging as part of a provincially mandated archeological assessment, workers made the discovery Pearson had prophesied: bone fragments; a piece of jewelry; and the outline of a small grave.

“It stands to reason they will find something because this is where the original settlers of this area would have been buried,” said Pearson, who has friends who lie buried in the private church cemetery. “And this is a sacred place; we still have funerals here.”

The discovery of remains and the location of the proposed pool have upset churchgoers, who say the sound of “cannonballs diving into the pool” will disrupt the sanctity of the active cemetery, which runs along Yonge St., and where the founders and original settlers of Thornhill are among those buried.

But their real grievance is with the city, which they say has not been transparent through the approvals process and has been unsympathetic to their efforts to preserve and protect the cemetery, which is marking its 185th anniversary this year. Parishioners were so upset they asked the province to force the archeological assessment.

“The process is not terribly transparent, and it seems like the rules change at the last minute,” said church warden Eric Preston, who says Holy Trinity is in regular contact with the club. “And we have no real advocate at the city on this important heritage issue.”

Members of the church reached out to Councillor Alan Shefman, who said he was “sympathetic to the church’s concerns” but preferred not to get involved in matters that go to the citizen-run committee of adjustment.

The golf and country club has been around since 1922. Two years ago, it approved a plan to upgrade its facilities, including construction of an in-ground pool.

At issue are the city’s requirements for buffer zones and whether a pool is a “structure” under city bylaws.

Over the summer, the club applied to reduce the buffer zone, or distance between the pool and the cemetery, to five metres. City requirements set the size of this zone at 15 metres for structures. But before a committee of adjustment hearing even took place, the church was told city rules say an in-ground pool is not a structure and thus requires no buffer.

The remains were found 10 metres from the cemetery.

Club president Adrian Hartog says the club has tried to be a good neighbour and has offered to put noise-dampening material on the three-metre fence that divides the cemetery property from the club. It also says that, with 24 hours’ notice, it will close the pool if a burial service is to take place.

According to the initial approval documents, the city said an assessment was not required, even though officials acknowledged the area had “high archeological potential.”

“Archaeological assessments are generally not required when the area of disturbance is limited to a small area,” said the city. “When an archeological assessment is waived, it is based on the specific proposed work, and staff always advises the applicant that the area is of high archeological potential and may be subject to an archeological assessment in the future.”

That decision shocked church parishioners, who then asked the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, which manages cemeteries, to intervene. The province sent the city a letter requiring the club to do an archeological assessment within 10 metres of the cemetery as part of the application permit. That’s when the remains were found.

“If this assessment hadn’t been done, that bone could have easily landed up in landfill,” said Pearson.

When the bones were found in early October, the police, coroner and registrar were called to the scene. Hartog says the archeological investigation was completed recently, and no other discoveries were made.

He said the age or details of the bone is not known. But the closest grave to where the bone fragments were found belonged to 2-year-old Martha Bowes, who died in 1848.

The registrar will decide how best to inter the bones, either on-site or at the cemetery. Once that’s done, the final report will be sent to the province and the city for approval of a pool permit, said Hartog.

Pearson says this case sets a bad precedent for how the city values its heritage.

“It’s been a really difficult time for many people in our parish because this cemetery is so beloved and many people have family buried here,” said Pearson. “It just shows a lack of interest and lack of respect for heritage from our local government.”