New memorial honours Correctional Service of Canada staff who died in the line of duty

1 Day ago 3

Ottawa

Thirty-five radical who died connected the occupation are remembered astatine a somber tract successful Kingston, Ont.

Families of the fallen spent decades pushing for a spot to retrieve their loved ones

Dan Taekema · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 07, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 7

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A antheral with glasses and a achromatic beard stands successful beforehand of a memorial partition and bell, mounted connected a chromatic block.

Thirty-five faces look from the chromatic walls of a memorial extracurricular Correctional Service Canada's (CSC) grooming academy successful Kingston, Ont.

Each representation and sanction is simply a tribute to the beingness and sacrifice of a unit subordinate who died successful the enactment of duty.

It's a somber spot wherever surviving relatives tin beryllium and retrieve their loved ones.

"It offers immoderate assurance that their household subordinate volition not beryllium forgotten," said Dave St. Onge. "This volition endure good beyond our lives and volition beryllium a spot of memorial."

The long-awaited monument was officially unveiled during a ceremonial astatine the extremity of October, but its communicative began agelong before.

A memorial partition with a ample shield successful carved successful the mediate of the chromatic and a doorbell sitting successful beforehand of it.

St. Onge, curator of Canada's Penitentiary Museum, remembers looking retired a model successful November 1994 and seeing Daphne Jenkins and her brother, Michael Wentworth, holding a lonely vigil extracurricular the gates of Kingston Penitentiary.

Their father, William Wentworth, had been stabbed and killed wrong the situation 33 years earlier — a transgression that ne'er resulted successful a conviction.

A closeup photograph of a connection carved successful chromatic astir honouring those who died successful the enactment of duty.

St. Onge said that yearly household gathering grew into a grassroots committee, and decades aboriginal resulted successful a nationalist monument to the fallen.

"I would ne'er person thought, years ago, erstwhile I did the picket astatine the Pen that it would pb to this," said Jenkins successful a media release. "I travel and beryllium present connected the seat ... and I spot my dad’s representation and I deliberation 'It’s truly real.'"

Chris Bucholtz, Ontario determination president for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, told CBC it's important to person a spot wherever unit and their families tin wage their respects to their own.

"It's decidedly precise heavy and precise meaningful for the correctional officers," helium said. " It's a precise unsafe profession."

'They went disconnected to enactment and didn't marque it home'

While prisons bash person memorials wrong their walls, determination was nary spot dedicated to conscionable CSC wherever the nationalist to gather, St. Onge explained.

"Unlike the subject cenotaphs and memorials crossed the country, these folks did not spell disconnected to war. They went disconnected to enactment and didn't marque it home," helium said.

The first, Henry Traill, was killed successful 1870. The astir recent, Lesa Zoerb, died successful 2018.

A photograph of a memorial plaque showing a antheral with agelong acheronian hairsbreadth and a abbreviated goatee.

In cases wherever unit members died successful the aforesaid incident, their tributes person been placed broadside by side.

"I consciousness a consciousness of pridefulness and restitution that these radical who gave truthful overmuch ... volition beryllium remembered," said St. Onge, who is besides a subordinate of the memorial committee.

Years of readying went into each item of the memorial. Its circular signifier mirrors a defender tower, with the outer wings curling successful to lucifer an embrace.

Staff who mislaid their lives astatine institutions successful Western Canada are connected the occidental wall, mirrored by their eastbound colleagues connected the other wing, with Ontarians scattered among them.

St. Onge said the outer walls were intentionally near blank, but helium hopes they enactment that way.

A chromatic seat is shown adjacent to a memorial partition covered successful achromatic plaques with the faces and names of CSC unit who died astatine work.

Stones from each of CSC's 5 regions crossed the state remainder beneath flags flapping successful the wind.

A doorbell from Stony Mountain Institution successful Manitoba sits successful the centre, down it a partition bearing antithetic CSC shields from implicit the years.

The words, "fallen but ne'er forgotten, immortal sons and daughters," are carved successful the rock.

A tract adjacent to CSC's past, and its future

The determination of the memorial was besides intentional, with a presumption of the aged Kingston Penitentiary successful the region and the academy nearby, truthful caller recruits tin larn astir CSC history.

St. Onge said cadets volition attraction for the memorial and rise its flags each day.

"We privation to to ingrain successful them the pridefulness and and respect for these cases, and for the occupation that they're entering into," helium said.

A wide photograph of a chromatic partition covered successful memorial plaques. A Canadian and CSC emblem tin beryllium seen waving successful the wind.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan Taekema is CBC’s newsman covering Kingston, Ont. and the surrounding area. He’s worked successful newsrooms successful Chatham, Windsor, Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa. You tin scope him by emailing [email protected].