GATINEAU, QC, June 1, 2022 /CNW/ - Library and Archives Canada
"We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields."
John McCrae, 1915
Today, Library and Archives Canada and the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917, with the generous support of the Embassy of Belgium and the Canadian War Museum, mark the Canadian launch of the Names in the Landscape geoportal. This online tool, developed through the support of the Flemish Government, identifies the locations in the contemporary landscape where missing Canadian soldiers fell or were initially buried during the First World War
(1914–18).
This online portal shows where more than 1,400 Canadians who fell in combat were killed or presumably buried. By adding personal and military data from Library and Archives Canada, the initiative seeks to give Canadian soldiers with no known grave a tangible location in the landscape, and therefore contributes to preserving and unlocking their stories.
With the help of volunteers of the Genootschap Passchendaele Society 1917, the museum digitized and inventoried the details of Canadian soldiers through Library and Archives Canada's online sources, such as Personnel Records, Commonwealth War Graves Registers and the Circumstances of Death Registers.
Canadian soldiers can be found by name, date of death, job in civilian life, unit or place of death. These parameters can be combined to refine the query as much as possible. The portal is also participative, as it allows users to add information, stories, anecdotes or photographs of soldiers and to contribute to an online platform for relatives, interested individuals or museums.
The Names in the Landscape geoportal can be accessed, free of charge, on the website of the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917.
Quotes
"This project gives everyone a unique opportunity to virtually walk in the museum's landscape to learn, stop, reflect and pay tribute to those who lost their lives in combat, including many thousands of Canadians who never came home. I am truly amazed at the amount of effort, passion and true collaboration shown by all partners involved this project."
– Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada
"With Names in the Landscape, we want to strengthen the role of the landscape as a last witness. The project gives descendants of relatives with no known grave the opportunity to look up the location where the soldier died or was presumably buried."
– Joachim Jonckheere, President of the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917
Quick facts
- To date, the museum has identified the initial resting places for more than 1,400 of the 6,928 Canadian soldiers whose names appear on the Menin Gate Memorial.
Associated links
- Names in the Landscape promotional video
- Web page on the Names in the Landscape initiative
- Names in the Landscape geoportal
About Library and Archives Canada
The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, thereby contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions.
Library and Archives Canada is online at www.bac-lac.gc.ca.
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SOURCE Library and Archives Canada
Media Relations, Library and Archives Canada, 819-994-4589 (office), [email protected]
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