Golf club’s plans rile Thornhill churchgoers

YorkRegion.com
Dec. 16, 2015
Simone Joseph  

If you know of a person whose remains are buried at the Thornhill Golf and Country Club, you have two weeks to contact the registrar.

Human remains were discovered during an archeological assessment at the golf club, south of the Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery at 8004 Yonge St.

After the burial site was discovered at the county club, the registrar was notified Oct. 9.

This cemetery was Thornhill’s first official cemetery, established between 1804 and 1830.

No records of burials outside the current cemetery boundaries were found.

More investigation confirmed the remains were from a single square grave with human skeletal remains and a small iron clasp or pin.

A formal notice appeared in The Liberal newspaper Dec. 10 that said the registrar of the provincial Cemeteries and Crematoriums Regulation Unit intends to declare the discovered site a “burial ground” and invites “representatives of the persons whose remains are interred in the burial ground to contact the registrar before the end of the year (specifically within two weeks after Dec. 17.)

After representatives come forward, they will negotiate a site disposition agreement with the Golf and Country Club. This agreement will describe how the burial site will be handled. For example, the site may be established as a cemetery or the remains may be removed and re-buried in a cemetery within the municipality.

The Thornhill Golf and Country Club had planned to build an in-ground pool and cabana just a few feet away from Holy Trinity Cemetery, one of the oldest in the city.

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

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 Street, and where the founders and original settlers of Thornhill are among those buried.

Members of the church reached out to Vaughan 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.

The remains were found 10 metres from the cemetery.

SIDEBAR
Contacting the registrar:
 Michael D’Mello, Registrar
 Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002
 Ministry of Government and Consumer Services,
 Ministry of Cemeteries and Crematoriums Regulation Unit
 5775 Yonge Street, 15th floor
 Toronto, ON M7A 2E5
 Tel:  416-326-8393 or fax  416-326-8406