"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.
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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