Ottawa residents are voicing frustration over an upcoming horror movie screening planned inside Beechwood Cemetery, Canada's national cemetery, with critics questioning whether a burial ground is an appropriate setting for entertainment.
The outdoor screening is scheduled for October 3 at Beechwood, which sits along Beechwood Avenue and serves as the resting place for veterans, RCMP members, and everyday Ottawa families alike. News of the event sparked discussion after Ottawa-focused Instagram account @shottawa.tv shared details of the growing backlash online.
According to the post, the strongest objections are coming from people with direct, personal ties to the cemetery. One commenter said she has a memorial for her son at Beechwood and has previously reached out to the cemetery's management about concerns over entertainment programming, including Haunted Walks events, taking place on site.
Others weighing in online called the idea "inappropriate," arguing that a cemetery should be treated as a place of quiet remembrance and respect for the deceased and their families, not a venue for horror film screenings. As @shottawa.tv put it in the caption, some residents are "calling out a horror movie night being held inside a cemetery."
A long-running tension at Beechwood
This isn't the first time programming at Beechwood has drawn scrutiny. The cemetery has hosted various public events over the years as part of efforts to keep the historic site active and accessible to the community, but the practice has periodically run into pushback from families who visit to grieve and remember loved ones.
Beechwood is a National Historic Site and functions as Canada's national cemetery, meaning it carries symbolic weight beyond a typical local burial ground. It's the final resting place of Governors General, Prime Ministers, and thousands of veterans, alongside Ottawa families with no public profile at all. That dual identity, part solemn national landmark, part neighbourhood cemetery, appears to be at the centre of the current debate: what feels like respectful public programming to organizers can feel jarring or disrespectful to those with fresh grief tied to the same grounds.
What's next
As of now, the October 3 screening remains on the calendar, and it's unclear whether Beechwood's management will respond publicly to the criticism circulating online. The debate has largely played out in social media comment sections rather than through any formal statement from the cemetery.
For Ottawa residents, the disagreement raises a broader question that keeps resurfacing locally: how much public programming, if any, belongs at a site that many in the community still consider sacred ground.
Source: Instagram post by @shottawa.tv
