Even two yards of shroud is not available.. The cost of funeral in Canada is so high that even the relatives are refusing to recognize the deceased

Funeral costs are high in Canada: Some people in the North American country Canada are not even able to get two yards of shroud. The cost of funeral has become so high that people are declaring the bodies of their loved ones as unclaimed. According to reports, the number of unclaimed bodies has increased significantly in recent years in some provinces of Canada. Due to which new morgues have been opened in at least one province to keep unclaimed bodies. The number of people asking for funds for memorial fund collection i.e. funeral has also increased.

According to a trade group associated with this industry, the total cost of a funeral in Canada has increased to more than 88 hundred dollars. Whereas in 1998 this cost was around 6 thousand dollars.

Relatives refuse to identify the bodies

Dirk Hume, the chief coroner of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, says that the number of unclaimed bodies was recorded as 242 in the year 2012. Which increased to 1183 in the year 2023. In most of these cases, the closest relatives of the deceased were identified. But they refused to identify the body citing different reasons. A common reason among all those who refused to identify their loved ones was money. In the year 2022, 20 percent of the people refused to identify their loved ones citing lack of money. At the same time, in 2023 it increased to 24 percent.

The local municipality performs the last rites

Dirk Huer further said that it is very sad to see that a person who is dead, does not have any family, friends, or anyone of his own. After death, that person does not have anyone of his own to perform his last rites. Officially in Ontario, a body is considered unclaimed after 24 hours. But it takes several weeks for the staff of our office to locate the closest relatives of that body. Meanwhile, the body is kept in a morgue or temperature-controlled store. Even if any relative is found, he refuses to identify the body. After this, the local municipality cremates the body.

Alan Cole, owner of Mackinnon & Bowes Funeral Homes in Toronto, another province of Canada, says that there have always been families who need additional financial help. But the way the number of unclaimed bodies is coming now, it is unbelievable.