A newly formed non-profit organization says more than 2,000 cemeteries in Quebec face an uncertain future unless something is done. Some cemeteries have been abandoned, others are not being mantained, and headstones have fallen over or been damaged.
The Institut du patrimoine funéraire du Québec (IPF) — the Quebec Funeral Heritage Institute — wants to do something to protect these burial places, no matter what the religion.
Logo: Institut du patrimoine funéraire du Québec (Groupe CNW/Institut du patrimoine funéraire du Québec)
According to IPF’s founding member and president, Yoland Tremblay, this is the first time in Quebec members of the funeral business — cemetery management, funeral homes, and headstone suppliers — have come together to develop a plan to promote, protect and conserve the province’s cemeteries. To find a similar organization, you would need to go to France or Belgium.
During an announcement in Rimouski on Friday, Mr. Tremblay said, “We want to make the public aware of the need to protect Quebec’s funeral heritage.”
Mr. Tremblay, who also manages Quebec’s largest cemetery, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montreal, said that cemeteries are witnesses to part of our collective history, and he is concerned about their survival. He said it is important to “protect this precious heritage.” About 100 cemeteries have already been abandonned.
Cemetery documentation centre planned
Of interest to genealogists is IPF’s plan to create a documentation centre about the history and heritage of cemeteries and funeral homes and to build a directory of sculptures and artwork found in cemeteries across the province.
Fewer choosing traditional burial
A number of factors have contributed to changes during the last 25 years in the funeral and cemetery business. Fewer people are practicing religion, which means fewer are attached to churches and cemeteries. Also, more and more Quebecers are choosing cremation and less traditional burial places, and instead they keep an urn in their home, bury the remains in a garden, or spread the ashes.
Only a third of the 62,000 people who die annually in Quebec are buried in cemeteries.
IPF’s news release, available only in French, can be found here.
