Since I began my Woodlands project in 2003, the former school/asylum site has been transformed – its inventory of large international-style buildings replaced with a dense configuration of upscale condominiums and townhouses. There is little left to remind us that this site has been the setting of a provincial institution for over a century.

But one thing that has remained is the asylum's 2.2-acre cemetery. Opened in 1920, the secluded burial ground remains as the singular trace to the site's institutional past. This, too, is New Westminster's heritage, one which is linked with the pain and suffering of marginalized citizens and the forgotten remains of the thousands who lived and died there. Read More...