Spanish flu memorial unveiled in Regina Cemetery

A memorial for people who died from the Spanish flu in Regina is unveiled on Dec. 14, 2017

A memorial commemorating victims of the Spanish flu who died nearly a century ago was unveiled at the Regina Cemetery on Thursday morning.

Around 330 Regina residents died of the flu between 1918 and 1920. More than 50 million people died across the globe.

The memorial includes a Q.R. code so visitors can scan and learn more about the pandemic.

“I just thought, why wait?” said Kenton De Jong, who designed the memorial. “They waited for 99 years, why wait more? There are so many bodies here we don’t know about. We know there’s a dozen, but there could be 30 or 40. We don’t know for sure and it’s been long enough.”

More than 5,000 Saskatchewan residents died before the end of the pandemic in 1921.