A new place to remember and honour those who identified as being from Bouchie Lake now stands proud to welcome those who come into the community.
Many members of the community of Bouchie Lake gathered on Saturday, Oct. 25, at Six Mile Corner, by Bouchie Lake Elementary School, for the reveal of the new Bouchie Lake Cenotaph. A project that has been in the making for more than 15 years.
“It’s super exciting that the cenotaph in Bouchie Lake at Six Mile Corner is now completed. This is gonna be a really awesome asset in our community. It’s going to provide a gathering space for our community and also for the school to use for Remembrance Day,” said Heloise Dixon–Warren, a member of the Friends of Bouchie Milburn Society.
“I think the other key thing that comes to mind is the need for community identity. By having places like this, it creates a place for the community to come together and to recognize that Bouchie Lake has its own feel and its own identity.”
Dixon–Warren says the new cenotaph will be a focal point in the Remembrance Day ceremonies the Friends of Bouchie Lake, the Legion, and the community will be putting on this year. There has been a Remembrance Day service in Bouchie Lake since the pandemic in 2020, which has been growing each year.
Brian Steeves, of the Quesnel Legion Branch 94, was also in attendance, and the Legion donated funds to have the cenotaph built. Steeves is happy to have another location in the area to honour veterans during the Season of Remembrance, and specifically to honour those who were proud to say they were from Bouchie Lake.
“ It’s always nice to have more remembrance items, and the cenotaph is going to be a nice contribution to the whole community. The legion was happy and proud to be involved.”
During the ceremony, there were times made for people from Bouchie Lake to say a few words. Many spoke on how the cenotaph will bring the community together, and one spoke on how proud her parents, who served and built their home in Bouchie Lake after World War 2, would be to see so many gather for the veterans, and how the Remembrance Days have grown in the community.
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