The Cemetery

In the first one hundred years of the Huronia Regional Centre’s operation, more than four thousand people died within the institution’s walls. Some families arranged for people to be buried privately, in other cemeteries. At least 1,379 of those who died at the HRC are confirmed to have been buried in the institution cemetery, however due to poor record keeping and the removal of many grave markers, the exact number is unknown and the government erected a monument in the 1990s, which says it could be more than 2,000.


It is impossible to know when the Huronia Regional Centre Cemetery was established, but an educated guess would suggest that it coincided with the opening of the first two buildings on the current institution site. These buildings were constructed between 1887 and 1888 and in the year of 1888 twenty-six residents died at the institution. It is very unlikely that all of those who died would have been claimed for private burials, particularly when many of the early patients at the Huronia Regional Centre came from other institutions instead of from homes.


The location chosen for the cemetery was on what was then known as the farm side of the institution, on the west side of Memorial Avenue, opposite the institution proper. It stood on a rise that overlooked farm fields worked by unpaid patient labourers and was located near farm buildings such as the horse barn, blacksmith shop and piggery. Like much of the work done at the institution, burials were carried out by residents who were not paid for their labour.

Prior to 1958 almost all grave markers in the cemetery bore only a number and no information on the person buried beneath them - cemetery burial chart


These numbers were assigned based on order of death. For example, Timmy Siddall, who died in 1957, was given the number 3600, indicating that he was the 3,600th person to have died at the institution. From 1958 to the closure of the cemetery in 1971, graves were marked with the deceased’s name, year of birth and year of death - cemetery burial chart 1953-1971.
Although burials at the cemetery stopped in 1971, this was not the end of institutional burials. From 1971 to the closure of the Huronia Regional Centre in 2009, residents whose remains went unclaimed were buried in institutional sections of the Saint Andrew’s – Saint James’ and Saint Michael’s Roman Catholic cemeteries in Orillia. Graves in the Huronia Regional Centre section of Saint Andrew’s – Saint James’ Cemetery are today in a very poor state of repair.

At unknown date, many of the grave markers for burials prior to the 1930’s were removed from the cemetery. This coupled with poor record keeping means that it is impossible to know who is buried in the cemetery and where they are buried. Eventually, some of these markers were found, being used as paving stones elsewhere on the institution grounds. These markers were returned to the cemetery in 1990 and set in a large concrete pad. Many other early markers remain unaccounted for.
HRC Cemetery Map

“We want people who were buried there to be respected and not be forgotten.”

In 2015, members of Remember Every Name discovered that a septic system had been built through part of the cemetery at the Huronia Regional Centre. The septic system appears to run from three farmhouses, through a section of the cemetery containing burials from the 1930’s, to two septic tanks in the northwest corner of the cemetery. A report from the Government of Ontario claimed that the cemetery had been expanded westward in 1934-1935 and that the septic system had been installed at this time, prior to any burials in this part of the cemetery. However, the report offered no hard evidence to support this conclusion.

Two historic aerial photos that Remember Every Name acquired from the National Air Photo Library appear to contradict the findings of the government report. One, taken in 1931, appears to show the cemetery with its current western and eastern boundaries, several years before the alleged westward expansion. Another, taken in 1945, is very clear and shows that the area where the septic tanks are currently located was nothing but undeveloped woods and brush, with so sign of septic infrastructure.

The only known expansion of the Huronia Regional Centre Cemetery occurred in 1953 and was a northward expansion. This expansion included the clearing and grading of the area where the septic tanks are located and the manhole covers which makeup part of the septic system are stamped with the year 1952. Due to this evidence Remember Every Name must conclude that the septic system was installed during the 1953 expansion and likely disturbed numerous graves. The late Jerry Melbye PhD, one of Canada’s premiere forensic anthropologists, offered to conduct an investigation of the septic system free of charge, but was turned down by the Government of Ontario.

In 2017 the Government of Ontario moved forward with plans to “memorialize” the cemetery at the Huronia Regional Centre, despite having no input from survivors of the institution. Part of this plan included “row end markers,” which supposedly contained the names of those buried in rows which were unmarked or marked only with numbers. Survivors and their supporters expressed great concern with this plan. Due to poor record keeping and missing markers, there is no way to know who is buried in the cemetery and which rows they may be buried in, or even where those rows may be located. Remember Every Name requested that the row end markers be replaced with a single memorial wall with the names of everyone known to be buried at the cemetery, but were ignored.

When the memorials were erected they contained numerous errors, contradicting historical records and the government’s own reports. In some cases, different plaques contradicted each other. In response to the poor job done by the Government of Ontario, survivors sought to create their own memorial for those who lived and died at the Huronia Regional Centre. Using money left over from the Huronia Regional Centre class action settlement, survivors worked with sculptor Hilary Clark Cole to design a monument that reflected their experiences at the institution. In May of 2019 the Ministry of Infrastructure gave approval for the monument to be located at the Huronia Regional Centre Cemetery and the memorial was unveiled on August 24th, 2019. 

St. Andrew's St. James' Cemetery

There is another burial site in Orillia at 320 Coldwater Rd West where residents who lived at HRC were buried after the decommission of the HRC Cemetery.

Visit the HRC Cemetery at 650 Memorial Ave, Orillia, ON L0K 2G0
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