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The field study, slated for May along the west and south face of the Canada Building and south face of the West Annex and Progress Building, was sparked by the need for a zoning change to clear the way for possible future development.

O’Neil said the bodies were removed over five years from the old St. Paul’s cemetery and a neighbouring Methodist cemetery in the late 1800s, over fears of contamination from cholera.

According to online information provided by Timmins Martelle Heritage Consultants, the same firm that will conduct the archaeological study, St. Paul’s cemetery contained 8,000 graves and was closed in 1881.

The consulting firm also noted “records indicate that at least part of the marked cemetery was intentionally left behind.”

O’Neil explained a faulty process of recording of graves, as well as the flawed grave removal process itself – it often happened at night, by torchlight, due to complaints from area residents ­– likely means some bodies weren’t removed or at least not completely removed.

“The paperwork wasn’t nearly as complete as it is today,” said O’Neil, the managing director of a London funeral home.

The grave diggers of the era also believed they needed to be fortified by alcohol to protect them from disease, he said.

“This was work nobody wanted to do,” O’Neil said. “People thought you could get diseases from the dead bodies.”

O’Neil also points to graves discovered when the Agriplex was built in the Western Fair District in 2004.

“We had the past experience when they were building the Agriplex, they found all kinds of undocumented graves and bones,” O’Neil said. “There might be a lot of unrecorded burials such as pauper’s burials or people who died from a disease.”

O’Neil said the back of the cemetery, where the poor, homeless and diseased were likely buried without properly being recorded, would have bordered Florence Street.

hrivers@postmedia.com

Twitter: @HeatheratLFP