23 Commonwealth War Grave headstones in Nanaimo will be resurrected

The Bowen Road Cemetery in Nanaimo is home to 23 Commonwealth War Graves, which will soon be upright after lying flat for more than 60 years.

“Every Remembrance Day I come and visit these guys and make sure they are not forgotten,” says Kevin Hills, a local military historian who places a Canadian flag and poppy at headstones every November.

For the past four years, Hills has been advocating for the City of Nanaimo to change its cemetery bylaw and make an exception for the 23 men who served in Commonwealth armed forces during the world wars.

“I feel like these guys have been overlooked and forgotten,” Hills adds.

At Monday night's council meeting, the city made the decision to amend the bylaw, allowing the Commonwealth headstones to be resurrected.

In the 1960s, the city joined a nationwide initiative at the time to improve cemetery maintenance.

“The federal government initiated a program where they supported laying down the markers with inscriptions on one side,” says David Thompson, manager of cemeteries for the City of Nanaimo.

There are 1.7 million Commonwealth War Graves worldwide, which are looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC).

The CWGC was established in 1917 and commemorates servicemen and women who died during the two world wars while serving with Commonwealth countries.

Hills also wants the CWGC to honour its commitment and responsibility to maintain the headstones, which have been neglected in Nanaimo.

“They have a commitment to perpetually care for those headstones," he says. "They own the headstones, they built them, they install them.”

The CWGC told CTV News in a statement that it is aware of the bylaw changes in Nanaimo.

“Our principles of commemoration are for each individual to be commemorated by name in a permanent and equal way," the statement reads. "How we achieve this differs, and upright headstones are one of many forms of CWGC commemoration across Canada."

The city of Nanaimo is expecting the CWGC to begin the process of resurrecting the headstones in the spring.

“When people drive by, they’ll see those headstones and they’ll remember,” says Hills.