Hundreds converged on a park in South Freetown, P.E.I., on Sunday to see a sculpture unveiled.
The International Children’s Memorial Place now has something to greet people when they come to visit their loved ones.
Bill MacLean founded the organization about 15 years ago.
His son Trevor died in early 1995 from injuries related to a snowmobiling accident.
“We have parents come from nearly every province in Canada now,” MacLean explains. “There is a tree for a child also from down in the United States, people come up.”
There are almost 500 trees planted in the name of a child taken too soon, with more added each year.
The organization’s board members say a lot of care and attention was taken when choosing a work of art for the memorial park.
“It is all about light and light shining through and the fact that you look at that statue and you are reminded,” says Maitland MacIsaac, board president. “With the recognition of the fact that your child has died, that your child is still living within you and certainly within this place.”
The 20-ton carving took about three-and-a-half months to create.It was created by Julie Glaspy, an artist from British Columbia.
“The park is about healing and it is about hope and it is about going through something that is really rough and really hard to do, the loss of a child,” says Glaspy. “So we wanted to focus on bringing light in to all of that.”
“People who gather here, a lot of them, have lost a child and they can meet and talk with other people in the same situation,” explains MacLean. “And know that they are not alone and they share their stories.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s David Bell.
