Controversy over writing on headstone at Brant County cemetery

Dave Thomson, a member of Byung Soon Choi's extended family, speaks with CTV Kitchener on Monday, March 11, 2013. (CTV Kitchener)

An engraving on the back of a headstone has become a lightning rod of controversy in St. George.

The Choi family has placed writing in Korean on the back of a family headstone.

The characters are similar to the English words on the front of the headstone – the Korean words for “here lies” and the names of family members.

But because they’re written on the back, the headstone contravenes the county’s cemeteries bylaw.

The bylaw states no writing other than the family name is permitted on the back of headstones, but Brant County Mayor Ron Eddy says it’s not always enforced.

“Owners and purchasers of cemetery plots in County of Brant Cemetery are being treated unequally,” he tells CTV.

“Some have been able to put engraving on the back. Others have been refused.”

A lawyer representing the Choi family says the characters on the back of Byung Soon Choi’s headstone are a Korean cultural tradition, protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The issue ultimately made its way to the county council table Monday night, where a motion to take that clause out of the bylaw was defeated in a split vote by the county’s corporate development committee.

Instead, the issue will be forwarded to a Brant County council meeting next Tuesday.

Coun. Don Cardy says he hopes the Chois will be allowed to keep the headstone as it stands.

“This is their culture,” he says.

“They’ve come to Canada. A burial is very sacred to all of us, and I think they have that right.”

Dave Thomson, a member of Choi's extended family, tells CTV the matter ultimately comes down to human rights.

“Everybody should have the right to express everything they can about their loved ones who have passed on,” he says.

The Chois say they’re contemplating legal action under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In a statement, the family’s lawyer calls the markings “an expression of their ethnicity and family traditions … full protected by the provisions of the Charter protecting freedom of speech and equality under the law.”