Saskatchewan’s fallen soldiers remembered through more than 3,400 lakes and landmarks

Across Saskatchewan, thousands of lakes, islands, rivers and bays carry names that tell stories of sacrifice, honouring military members who never returned home.

For Remembrance Day, SaskLakes.ca is bringing renewed attention to the province’s GeoMemorial program, which has been preserving the names of fallen service members on Saskatchewan’s landscape since 1947.

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The website has now matched more than 3,400 names to geographic features across the province, creating an interactive map that allows families and communities to discover the places named in memory of their loved ones.

“Every dot on this map is a place in Saskatchewan named for someone who didn’t come home,” SaskLakes.ca shared in a recent social media post.

A tribute that began nearly 80 years ago

Saskatchewan’s GeoMemorial program was established in 1947, shortly after the Second World War, to provide a lasting tribute to those who died serving their country.

More than 90,000 Saskatchewan residents enlisted during the war, representing approximately one in 10 people living in the province at the time.

Nearly 4,000 never returned home.

Rather than limiting remembrance to monuments and cenotaphs, Saskatchewan began honouring fallen service members by naming geographic features after them.

The program has since expanded to recognize those who died in other conflicts and in service to the province or country.

According to Tourism Saskatchewan, more than 4,000 geographic features have been named through the program.

SaskLakes.ca has identified and mapped more than 3,400 commemorative locations, including 2,469 lakes, 315 bays, 311 islands and 173 rivers and creeks

Additional locations include rapids, peninsulas, waterfalls, channels and other geographic features.

The names are scattered across Saskatchewan, turning portions of the province’s landscape into permanent memorials.

Two generations of sacrifice remembered on the same lake

Some of the most meaningful stories involve families who lost loved ones in different generations.

Wasden Lake was named in honour of Private Harold Wasden, who died while serving in the Netherlands in 1944 during the Second World War.

Decades later, his great-nephew, Corporal Dustin Wasden, was killed while serving in Afghanistan in 2008.

An island on the same lake now bears Dustin’s name.

The two geographic features stand as memorials to members of the same family who lost their lives serving Canada more than six decades apart.

Other locations recognize service members who died during Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.

Roberts Bay on Memorial Lake was officially named in September 2025 in honour of Master Corporal Joshua Brian Roberts, who died in Afghanistan on Aug. 9, 2008.

The naming demonstrates that the GeoMemorial program continues to recognize fallen service members nearly eight decades after its creation.

Bringing remote memorials closer to families

While many of the commemorative locations are difficult to access, efforts have been made to connect families with the places honouring their relatives.

Northern Saskatchewan bush pilot and heritage researcher Doug Chisholm has spent decades documenting GeoMemorial sites.

Since 1997, he has photographed hundreds of locations and helped families visit remote lakes and islands named after their loved ones.

According to Tourism Saskatchewan, Chisholm has installed memorial plaques at approximately 250 locations and gathered historical information and photographs from nearly 2,000 families and Legion branches.

During visits, he has also collected lake water and small rocks to send to families as keepsakes from the places bearing their relatives’ names.

Families invited to discover their connection

The SaskLakes.ca GeoMemorial map allows users to search by a service member’s name or the name of a geographic feature.

Visitors can also search for memorial locations within 100 kilometres of a Saskatchewan community.

The website is encouraging families to share additional information, including photographs of memorial plaques, to help preserve the stories behind the names.

Anyone who knows of a lake, island or other geographic feature named after a family member is invited to contribute to the growing collection.

The searchable map is available at sasklakes.ca/geomemorial.

As Saskatchewan prepares to observe Remembrance Day on Nov. 11, the project offers another way to reflect on the sacrifices of those who served.

While many of the names are found in remote areas of northern Saskatchewan, each represents a person whose story continues to be remembered.

For families who lost someone in service, a name on a map can serve as a permanent reminder that their sacrifice has not been forgotten.