NewStats: 3,262,888 , 8,178,472 topics. Date: Tuesday, 03 June 2025 at 11:23 PM 4vdf

Some Canadian provinces have logged a jump in unclaimed dead bodies in recent years, with next of kin citing funeral costs as a growing reason for not collecting loved ones' remains.

The phenomenon has prompted at least one province to build a new storage facility. Demand for memorial fundraisers has surged. The overall cost of a funeral in Canada at the top end has increased to about $8,800 from about $6,000 in 1998, according to industry trade group estimates.

In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, the number of unclaimed dead bodies rose to 1,183 in 2023 from 242 in 2013, said Dirk Huyer, the province's chief coroner.

In most of those cases, next of kin were identified but unable to claim the body for a variety of reasons, the most common being money. Finances went from being the reason for 20% of the total unclaimed bodies in 2022 to 24% in 2023.

"It's distressing because it's a person who has ed and there's nobody – family, friends, or others – that are in a position to be able to provide instructions or plans for that person after their death," Huyer said.

Officially, in Ontario, a body is deemed unclaimed after 24 hours. But the coroner's office staff may spend weeks trying to locate next of kin, he said. If the relatives confirm they are unable to claim a body, the local municipality works with a funeral home to provide a simple burial.

In the meantime the body is kept in a morgue or temperature-controlled storage facility.
"There's always been families that are in need of additional assistance. (But) I've never seen the number of unclaimed remains that currently exist," said Allan Cole, owner of the Toronto-based funeral home MacKinnon and Bowes.

In Quebec, the number of unclaimed bodies grew to 183 in 2023 from 66 in 2013. In Alberta, the number of bodies for whom no next of kin could be located to claim them rose to 200 in 2023 from 80 in 2016.

Historically, the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador did not encounter enough unclaimed remains to warrant long-term storage, a spokesperson for Newfoundland Health Services told Reuters.
Now, in the wake of an uproar over unclaimed bodies kept in freezers outside the hospital, the province is constructing a permanent storage unit to hold remains.

"People weren't claiming bodies because they realized they couldn't afford to bury them," said Jim Dinn, leader of the province's opposition New Democratic Party. "It's not about building a bigger storage unit: It's about addressing the underlying cause causing the accumulation of bodies and removing the barriers so people can have a dignified burial."

An adult single grave with the Mount Pleasant Group on average costs $2,800, but the price in midtown Toronto was $34,000 as of April 1, according to the website of the cemetery, funeral and cremation provider across the Greater Toronto Area. The price excludes opening and closing of the grave, funeral, tombstone, taxes and other items.

A funeral can cost C$2,000 to C$12,000, said Funeral Services Association of Canada President Jeff Weafer, up from about C$1,800 to C$8,000 in 1998.

The number of memorial fundraisers on crowdfunding site GoFundMe has ballooned to 10,257 in 2023 from 36 in 2013, a spokesperson for the site said.
Government for funerals has failed to keep pace with rising funeral costs, advocates have said. The federal government announced a C$2,500 top-up to the C$2,500 death benefit in the Canada Pension Plan in the April budget.

"Losing your life partner or spouse is devastating for a senior. It can also be an immense financial burden after a lifetime of hard work," Katherine Cuplinskas, press secretary for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, wrote in an email.
"That is why we are strengthening the Canada Pension Plan to provide a top-up to the death benefit."

That is not enough, Weafer said.
"This is not a respectful end for Canadians," he said. "The reason deceased individuals are going unclaimed by their families is about affordability."

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-bodies-go-unclaimed-costs-put-funerals-out-reach-2024-05-18/

The next of kin say who don kpai don kpai. I cannot come and go and kill myself because I wan bury person.

It is clearly an economic decision.

Western world!


You cannot even die in peace!

More than 80% of their population bury their dead with credit. I stand to be corrected.

With harsh and dwindling economy, people can no longer even go on credit.

Chai..




Why should burying someone costs all that money??

The world should go the Muslim way in that aspect.

A dead person is already dead!!

There's no need for such iced meat!!

Everything in the US and in Canada is money! You pay to live, and now, death has a price!

AllenSpencer:
Western world!


You cannot even die in peace!

More than 80% of their population bury their dead with credit. I stand to be corrected.

With harsh and dwindling economy, people can no longer even go on credit.

Yep the Roman descendants way of life is destroying the world....especially the dance dance Blacks....

So even Canadians spend excessively on burial.. some people said it's only the igbos o! 🤔🤔

Good move, especially if the dead acted as a village uncle

The west with GREEDIEST government.
They give you 100k and will make sure they collect back 70k directly and indirectly.

AllenSpencer:
Western world!


You cannot even die in peace!

More than 80% of their population bury their dead with credit. I stand to be corrected.

With harsh and dwindling economy, people can no longer even go on credit.

Alot of Funeral homes have some sort of sort of arrangements with financial institutions or investors where people hoping to bury their dead buy coffin and pay for funeral expenses on credit with interest.

LordIsaac:
Everything in US and in Canada is money! You pay to live, and now, death has a price!

They are capitalist economies.

Muslim burial the best, who don die don die

But who make the stupid law at the first place

But there's basically no need to borrow to bury the dead. There's no need to put yourself under pressure just in the name of conducting a befitting burial

Okay. too bad. Islamic burial rite remains the best. No unnecessary spending.

Obidense can blame app for this too.

Last respect no respect the living again

This is where Islam takes a tomb up

They've never heard of the concept of CREMATION?!!

Abeg, Anti-Japa activist... This is not news.

Oyibo and data. I like how they use data to analyse everything. Once you don't want to do anything or reason for doing it, it would be noted and at the end, responses and data are analysed. Thousands of unclaimed corpses are littered in Nigeria morgues without their kith and kin knowing where their loved ones are. There are thousands of unidentified corpses brought by police and security agencies.

LordIsaac:
Everything in US and in Canada is money! You pay to live, and now, death has a price!

Nah... Not Death... Burial! Please, keep up!

Even in Nigeria, not every person or family can afford burial rites... Some are so poor that they simply toss the body into the ground the moment death is confirmed.

I have seen families that couldn't pay mortuary fees, and had to watch helplessly as the remains of their loved ones were sold off to research institutes and schools of Medicine.

The dead is choking the living hell out of the living

vastolord4:
So even Canadians spend excessively on burial.. some people said it's only the igbos o! 🤔🤔

Must you always show bigot character

wahala for dead body

Double wahala for Dead body and the owner of them body

Where the soul goes is the most important, even if something happens to the body or it's not properly buried.

Northern Nigeria come to mind 😔😔😔✅✅💯💯

Angelfrost:


Nah... Not Death... Burial! Please, keep up!

Even in Nigeria, not every person or family can afford burial rites... Some are so poor that they simply toss the body into the ground the moment death is confirmed.

I have seen families that couldn't pay mortuary fees, and had to watch helplessly as the remains of their loved ones were sold off to research institutes and schools of Medicine.

😢

Toh

LordIsaac:
Everything in US and in Canada is money! You pay to live, and now, death has a price!

You also pay those money in Nigeria, from mortuary charges to family elders' demands. I spent over 250k just to convince my mum's elders to allow us burial her in Lagos which they only accepted after we are agreed to come back to the village for the final burial rites which will definitely cost us millions especially with cow and goats involved.

vastolord4:
So even Canadians spend excessively on burial.. some people said it's only the igbos o! 🤔🤔

don't come here to expose or sugarcoat stupidity yet again. Spending money on dead dust and a plane stupidity, you should spend such money on them when they are alive weyrey