True and Fascinating Canadian History
Evolution of the
RCMP National Grave Discovery Database
The RCMP National Grave Discovery Database and Website is a unique, all-Canadian history project consisting of thousands and thousands of RCMP graves that were never known to exist or graves that had been forgotten in cemeteries all over the globe and were never recorded. Over many years beginning in 2001, nearly all of these graves have been found, inspected and photographed by volunteers from many countries around the world, and then entered into the RCMP National Grave Discovery Database with great care and exacting detail.
Future generations of Canadians may judge the RCMP on the manner in which its deceased members were remembered, and how well their graves were inspected, cared for, protected and honoured.
The precise location and condition of each RCMP grave is recorded as well as its inspection date. If a grave needs repairs, it is noted and reported to cemetery administrators. If a grave has no marker, one is requested for the deceased grave from the Last Post Fund under the auspices and kindness of Veterans Affairs Canada. The photograph collection in the database also consists of thousands of obituaries which continue to be found in old newspapers going back to the earliest days of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873. The RCMP National Grave Discovery Database and Website is dedicated to all deceased members of the RCMP -- many of whom lost their lives in times of war. Another 249 RCMP members lost their life while on duty and in service of Canada. Over many, many years all the graves of the deceased members on the RCMP Honour Roll were found, inspected, photographed and recorded in the RCMP National Graves Discovery Database.
In the database, over 77,000 names are listed. The last name, initials and Reg.# of every person who was ever a member of the NWMP, RNWMP or RCMP is provided as this information is a matter of public record. Personal details about the individual member are only filled in after the member is deceased. The website also contains a substantial collection of stories and information about the RCMP.
The RCMP National Grave Discovery Database and Website had its start going back to my retirement days from the RCMP. One evening in August 2000, Cathy, my wife and I visited her grandfather’s grave site at Notre Dame Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario. Cathy's grandfather (top photo left) was Reg.#10111, Corporal J.H.A. 'Art' Gahagan. As we stood looking at Cpl. Gahagan's grave marker, I realized that only his family knew where he was buried, and I was certain that other visitors to Notre Dame would never have known that Cpl. Gahagan had once been a member of the RCMP, and that he had proudly served the RCMP and Canada for twenty-five years.
I felt sad that Corporal Gahagan's years in the Force had not been recorded in some way so that Canadians could read about his career. I was also aware that Canadians did not have access to burial records held by the RCMP nor did Canadians know the final resting place of the majority of deceased RCMP members going back to 1873. I sensed a moral obligation and a certain responsibility to find these graves and to fill in this gap in the history books.
That evening, as Cathy and I walked around Notre Dame Cemetery, I began to wonder how many other deceased RCMP members were buried in Notre Dame, and how many RCMP graves had been lost over time, or how many RCMP deaths had never been recorded in a meaningful way? As an RCMP Officer about to retire, I began to seriously think that with the help of Veterans and volunteers, I could research, identify and record as many RCMP graves as possible and the project would be a meaningful retirement activity.
The next day I toured other cemeteries including Beechwood in Ottawa and St. Joseph’s in Orleans. With the help of Cemetery Administrators, I quickly found 100 more RCMP graves. I added these names to a primitive list that I had begun many years ago. I had always known of some deceased members in St. Stephen, New Brunswick (my home Division). One RCMP member, Reg.#13373, Cst. Frederick Law had been an old friend of my parents and he was buried in the Catholic Cemetery near St. Stephen, NB. His grave was not marked with the RCMP crest telling others that he was once a member of the Force. I always felt sad that Mr. Law's marker had essentially been forgotten.
Although the RCMP National Grave Discovery Database and Website began many years ago, substantial start-up time was required to organize mounds of incoming data from volunteers related to RCMP graves and cemeteries, to learn the functionality of databases, and to research and hire an appropriate and reliable company to host the database.
Between 2001 and 2004, the search continued for RCMP graves in the Ottawa and Gatineau area. Over 600 RCMP more graves were found, but it was becoming difficult to list them in an organized fashion. At first, I designed a simple, very primitive database on WordPerfect to list the first 200 graves which I had already found throughout my travels across Canada. Then I added the approximate 600 graves which I had found in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. In the meantime, the RCMP gave me to access to all cemetery records from across Canada. The first database grew to well over 4,000 graves. Over some years, I entered hundreds of obituaries from the RCMP magazine The Quarterly into the database.
An old friend, RCMP Veteran Jack O’Reilly in Toronto, agreed to collaborate with me as he too had collected hundreds of graves in the Greater Toronto Area. Jack also agreed to submit an Annual Report about the progress on the project to the RCMP Commissioner. Bob Kraus of the Kingston RCMP Vets also shared his data with me. RCMP Veterans from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia sent me their data. My original list grew from 200 to about 6,000 graves. As news about the grave project spread among Veterans, I was formally asked to record all the known graves from across Canada. I agreed to do so based on the worthiness of the idea, and the start which I had already made on a first attempt and very primitive database.
Between 2002 and 2004, work consentrated on gathering more and more information about graves and cemeteries from RCMP Veterans across Canada. Consideration then turned to hiring a professional company to handle the massive amount of data that had been assembled, but not so well organized. It was necessary to look outside for help. Caspio Corporation in California was consulted and hired. The initial start up cost was between $7,000 to $10,000 USD. Online experimentation and fine tuning the database involved additional costs. The database was finally ready for its first release in 2006, but a website was also necessary to house the database. I returned to night school to learn HTML coding. The expanded database was embedded in the website and finally ready for release across Canada by Caspio Corps in 2007. Time and effort is required every day to maintain the database. The total cost to maintain the database and to consult computer engineer experts over the years amounts to about $70,000 (C).
Commissioner William J. Elliott was one of the very first to acknowledge the new website as he saw its benefits and potential for the future. He encouraged all Vets to continue working and researching graves especially in the memory of the members who had died while in service for Canada. Commissioner R. W. Paulson also wrote a personal letter to me in which he expressed his gratitude that Vets have undertaken the identification and maintenance of the graves of our deceased members and the Commissioner also acknowledged all the RCMP Vets who volunteer time on this project.
The RCMP depends entirely on the content of the database and its accuracy. It is extensively used by senior RCMP Officers, RCMP administrators, RCMP members, RCMP Veterans and volunteers, and several federal departments including: the RCMP Heritage Centre, Veteran Affairs Canada, National Archives Canada, and the CBC as well as provincial agencies, and museums.
The RCMP National Grave Discovery Database and Website is designed so that all RCMP Veterans have access to the same data all the time. Many Veteranss across Canada were working very hard and with great commitment to compile lists for specific regions within their Division; but it just made sense to bring all these fragmented lists together and house them in one RCMP National Graves Database. I want to thank and give full credit to all RCMP Veterans across Canada who send me new data, photos and obituaries every day. Thank you also for helping to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this valuable historical research.
& Freedom of Information
No confidential or private information appears on this website. All database research on [www.rcmpgraves.com] comes from public sources including; The Quarterly, Google, the Internet, Archives Canada, grave markers, cemetery records, university libraries, newspapers, books and Canadian magazines. Sources of information are noted in the database.
| https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2038/index.do> Supreme Court of Canada |
Some people are under the impression that the RCMP is a secret society, but that is not the case. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that as a free and open democracy, Canadians have a right to know the names of its police officers, their salary, and postings as well as any internal discipline cases, or court cases which may have touched the member.
No personal information is provided in the database for any living member unless that member has made a specific request to have information made available, or unless an item about the RCMP member is found on the Internet, or if news is made available through public sources such as court cases. Every effort is made to ensure that nothing of a personal or embarrassing nature will be mentioned in the database.
Over the Miles
Over A Remarkable RCMP Career
A Statistical Overview
Service to Canada : In Peace and in War
(R) A Community Member of the Alberta Muskeg Lake Cree Nation
and (L) RCMP Reg.#43457, Sergeant Barry Ledoux
Courtesy of Ric Hall. RCMP Veterans. Vancouver, BC
