"We celebrate lives lived," said Brian Bell of Heritage Moose Jaw.



Bell, along with Bernice Crosbie, conduct tours of the Moose Jaw Cemetery every Saturday in the months of July and August.



Bell tells the history of the Friendly City by walking among the headstones of the cemetery.



"Our past is buried here," said Bell. "These stories need to be told."



Over the hour-long tour, Bell explains how the cemetery came into existence after the first settlers moved to Moose Jaw.



"The really nice thing about this cemetery is that there is no segregation by religion, so you'll find catholics beside protestants," said Bell. "There was no discrimination unless you were an Aboriginal."



Bell said that Aboriginal people were refused plots in the cemetery with the exception of Tasinaskawin Brulé who is buried in the far southwest corner of the graveyard.



Brulé had befriended Annie Wallace, a powerful and influential member of the community in the early 1900s. Wallace promised she would bury Brulé in the cemetery when she died and kept her word.



The cemetery was built in the late 1800s and the chapel inside the grounds was erected in 1911.



In 1999, Heritage Moose Jaw got involved with the cemetery which had been neglected for years. The association began to repair the broken headstones and missing grave markers and had the cemetery declared a municipal heritage site.



There are three types of head stones used in the graveyard, red and gray granite, red and gray marble and sandstone. A lot of the headstones are sandstone because it was the cheapest stone to buy.



The headstones in the graveyard all face east because of the weather in the prairies. By facing east, the western winds that blow across the province wear down the backside of the head stones instead of the front which display the names on the grave.



Bell said it was important that the cemetery has a daily upkeep.



"Many well-respected Moose Javians are buried here. We should all honour our dead. We are dead longer than we are alive," said Bell.



Throughout the tour, Bell talked about the city and events that occurred in its history.



"The Spanish influenza took many lives in Moose Jaw," said Bell. "Many families were torn apart when a father, mother, son or daughter died from that flu." The Cline family, one of the first settlers in Moose Jaw, is buried in the cemetery along with soldiers from the First World War, Lewis Rice, a well-known photographer, Wellington White, a prominent figure in the city, and William and Mary Jane Watson who have the largest headstone in the cemetery.



Bell said Heritage Moose Jaw tries to make sure all the stories told on the tour are true by researching as much as it can at the museum and library.



"This is a part of Canada's history as well as our own. We try to be as accurate as we can and have received help from people who have family members buried here," said Bell. "We are just making sure the stories are kept alive."



Tours of the Moose Jaw Cemetery are $5.