The money is raised, turns out the hard part is getting the go-ahead from the province.

Cindy Scott, a survivor of Huronia Regional Centre, stands on a piece of branch. She put it there to help her remember the spot. She is facing rows of markers that lay flat on the ground.

Each marker has a number and, according to Debbie Vernon, communication co-ordinator of Remember Every Name, an advocacy organization formed to ensure the institutions survivors and victims are not forgotten, each number represents the order in which they died.

“They just kicked it in,” Scott said. She says she was seven years old when she witnessed the wrapped corpse of an adult flling into a hole.

The memories come in flashes, said Scott, who now lives in Orillia. The survivors walking through the Huronia Regional Centre Cemetery in Orillia with her on a sunny day in June agree that’s how it happens — the flashes of memory.

Betty Bond of Bracebridge recalls a young boy in a gown — the gowns bear numbers because the residents became nameless — being asked why he was still in his gown. He said he was told to as punishment. The response was harsh and brutal as the young lad’s body smashed against a hard surface in the cafeteria — Bond said she and the others learned later the boy died from the blow.

Bev Link of Bracebridge was forced into a straitjacket and into a cold dark cellar for two days for having stolen a candy. Bond said Link, being Indigenous, was often treated particularly cruelly.

A monument states “in memory of those developmentally handicapped people who lived and died within the community of the Ontario Hospital School Orillia (one of many names the centre had over the years) from 1887 to 1971. More than 2,000 people were laid to rest here.”

The survivors maintain there are disparities between the encryption and the truth. Harold Dougall says the number of dead is likely triple what is stated, and Bond said not all who within the centre’s walls were developmentally delayed.

Link, who is not as steady on her feet as she once was, did not join the others on the walk through the cemetery. She sat on a small lawn chair near a monument that was unveiled in 2019 and specifically designed for the survivors, victims, and their families.

“That’s me,” said Dougall, pointing to a bird atop the monument with its wings fully outstretched — soaring to freedom.

Their desire is to install benches and a walkway so survivors and the families can access the monument, and sit and reflect. The $25,000 fundraising goal is reached, thanks to Gail Milliken, the sister of survivor Brian Logie, who donated $20,500.

“(Milliken) has requested a small bronze plaque with her brother’s name on it be embedded into the walkway or on one of the benches,” said Vernon. “She knows and understands the history of the institution and wanted to show her ongoing love and support for her brother by making this amazing contribution. We plan to honour her request.”

However, they have hit a snag and have launched a bid for support from Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller and Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop to help get a green light after being put on hold by the province.

“Twice I have requested for us to get some quotes from a local contractor in the Orillia area to come and give us some quote for the walkway and they won’t let us do that. They’ve put us on hold,” Vernon said. "There is an urgency to get the project done as the survivors are aging and their health is deteriorating."

For more information about Remember Every Name, visit remembereveryname.ca.

Article By Mary Beth Hartill, Reporter Bracebridge Examiner