Beechwood Cemetery: Where Canada’s Stories Live On

Canada’s identity isn’t written in a single language, culture, or faith. It’s written in stories, millions of them, woven together across generations. At Beechwood Cemetery, these stories aren’t forgotten. They are remembered, honoured, and shared. That’s what makes Beechwood not just a cemetery, but a celebration of Canada itself.

From its founding in 1873 to its official designation as Canada’s National Cemetery in 2009, Beechwood has become a unique national institution, one that embodies our collective identity, honours our diversity, and reflects our shared values.

Beechwood is the final resting place for over 85,000 Canadians. But more than numbers, it is a place where names come alive through narrative, where we remember not just how people died, but how they lived, what they built, who they loved, and the legacies they left behind.

Here, a young refugee who made Canada home lies near a diplomat who shaped our international presence. A trailblazing nurse rests not far from a soldier who served in Dieppe. A Supreme Court Justice is honoured in the same cemetery as a poet, a firefighter, or a teacher. Each stone, each name, is part of Canada’s unfolding story.

Nowhere else does Canada’s multicultural character feel so present and thoughtfully honoured. Beechwood is a place where people from all walks of life, regardless of culture, language, or faith, are remembered with dignity.

From longstanding communities to newer cultural groups, Beechwood reflects the evolving face of Canada. Burial traditions and customs are respected, languages are preserved on monuments, and community spaces ensure that every Canadian story, no matter its origin, is valued.

In this national cemetery, the richness of Canadian identity is not only recognized, it’s celebrated. Beechwood stands as a quiet but powerful reminder that our strength as a country lies in our diversity, and in our shared commitment to remembering every chapter of the Canadian journey.

Stories That Teach and Inspire

At Beechwood, remembrance isn’t passive. It’s active and educational. Through public tours, storytelling events, and school programs, the cemetery is a place where Canadians of all ages come to discover history that lives in their own community. You might hear about the families who helped build Ottawa’s early neighbourhoods, or about individuals from around the world who chose Canada as home and gave back in extraordinary ways.

You’ll discover artists, innovators, veterans, leaders, and unsung heroes, all of them part of Canada’s larger story. By sharing these stories, Beechwood helps us understand that Canadian identity is not inherited, it is built, daily, by those who came before us.

Where We Remember Who We Are

In a world that moves quickly, Beechwood invites us to slow down and reflect. It reminds us that citizenship is more than a passport, and heritage is more than ancestry. It is a shared responsibility to remember, to honour, and to tell the stories that define us as a people. Beechwood is not a place of endings. It is a place of continuity, where the past speaks to the present and guides the future. Through every name, every tree, every ceremony, we are reminded that Canada is not one story, it is all our stories, together.

Beechwood Cemetery: Where Canada remembers, and where Canada lives on.

Come walk with us. Come listen to the stories. Come celebrate what it means to be Canadian.