Grosse Ile Memorial

This monument was to commemorate the immigrants and workers who died on the island during the 105 years that it functioned as an immigration quarantine station. The names of 74,000 deceased were to be fabricated in bronze and designed to form long “boats” cast upon an undulating sea/ground plane. A beach of tossed pottery shards and shale pieces would form a pathway at the base of a shale escarpment. Concrete architectural fragments nestled in the escarpment resembled vestiges of a harbour settlement. These inhabitable bunkers would offer places to sit and contemplate the memorial, and provide textual support to understanding the tragedy.