Grave New World?
Ahhh. Quebec. La belle province. The sounds of cross-country skis gliding through the Laurentian forest. Puppies frolicking in the powdery snow. Crowds gathering for le Carnaval. The roar of the backhoe in the cemetery threatening exhumation as a consequence of a lapsed plot lease? Wait a minute... Are you kidding me?
According to Les Jardins du Souvenir, the lapsing of a 99-year cemetery plot lease is a grave matter. Earlier this year, CBC News and CanWest News Service reported that Gary Blake’s brother was told essentially to pay up, "or we’ll dig up their graves." Blake’s family plot lease had apparently expired (Blake cites a bill of purchase and claims the plot was purchased by his great-grandfather in 1892 for $10) and unless $1,694 was forked over to the non-profit cemetery corporation, the plot would be re-possessed. “To re-purchase something we already owned didn’t make sense” said Blake. Therein lies the confusion. According to Quebec law, no individual in Quebec owns a cemetery plot; most Quebec burial plots are leased for 25, 50 or 99 years.
In a sad twist, Les Jardins du Souvenir director Roger Gagnon said that the bodies (Blake’s father, mother, two aunts, grandmother and great-grandfather) could be buried deeper so that people “who are willing to pay” could be buried on top. Presumably Blake’s great-grandfather, while contemplating his last will and testament, could not possibly have anticipated this gruesome outcome of poor estate planning.
Thanks for reading,
David
