The Wind Phone at Courtenay Civic Cemetery offers a quiet place for reflection, remembrance and connection.
Visitors are welcome to use the Wind Phone to speak, remember, grieve or spend a quiet moment with someone they have lost. The phone is not connected to a service line. It is intended as a symbolic space for personal reflection.
About wind phones
A wind phone offers a quiet and symbolic place where people can speak to loved ones who have passed away.
The original wind phone was created in Otsuchi, Japan, by Itaru Sasaki. He placed a disconnected phone booth in his garden in 2010 as a way to cope with the loss of a family member.
The phone was inspired by a poem written by that family member, Phone of the Wind, which included the words: “The phone of the wind speaks to the heart. Whisper to the wind and I will hear you.”
After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, he opened the phone booth to others who were grieving. The disaster claimed more than 15,000 lives across the Tōhoku region, including many in the town of Otsuchi.
The phone was never connected to a telephone line. Instead, it offered people a private place to speak, remember and say the words they still carried with them.
Since then, wind phones have inspired communities around the world. While each one is unique, they all share the same purpose: to provide a gentle place for grief, reflection and remembrance.
Location
The Courtenay Civic Cemetery is located at 4768 Old Island Highway (opens in new window), on the north side of Courtenay between Muir Road and Veterans Memorial Parkway.
View the Wind Phone on the cemetery map [PDF/329KB]
