Only in Quebec, you say. A Albertan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathleen Bailey" <kathleen_cba@yahoo.ca> To: <QC-ETANGLO@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 2:47 AM Subject: [QC-ETANGLO] Quebec cemeteries For those of you who haven't heard or read this story..... Quebec cemetery firm warns it can dig up bodies if fee not paid - Quebec bans plot purchases, Ontario bans leases Last Updated: Friday, January 19, 2007 courtesy of CBC A Gatineau man has been told his family must pay $1,700 to a cemetery management company or risk having his grandfather, grandmother and other buried relatives dug up and their headstones removed. Gary Blake said his brother received a letter Friday from Les Jardins du Souvenir demanding $1,700 to renew the lease on a plot the Blake family thought they had owned since 1892. "The Corporation may repossess any lot whether or not it is occupied by bodies, monuments, cinerary urns, flat markers, slant markers, crypts, columbaria or other distinctive signs . for failure to renew the contract when it expires," the letter read. Blake, 68, visited the snow-covered graves of his father, his grandmother, and at least five other members of his family at Saint Paul Cemetery in Gatineau's Aylmer sector Thursday. As he described the letter, his voice constricted and he blinked back tears. "There was no compassion shown towards anybody," he said. "It's the only place to come and see your family." Les Jardins du Souvenir declined to comment, but a spokesman for the company told the Ottawa Citizen earlier this week that once the lease on a plot has expired, the cemetery company may dig up the bones and urns buried there so they can be re-buried deeper in the ground and someone else's grave can be put on top. Blake said his great-grandfather purchased the plot for $10, and his family has paid maintenance fees on it that are good until 2085, so he was surprised by the demand for a lease payment. "To re-purchase something we already owned didn't make sense." But a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Gatineau that owns the cemetery and the cemetery maintenance company said that under Quebec law, neither Blake nor any other individual in Quebec owns a cemetery plot. "You buy the privilege to use that place," spokesman René Laprise said. Consequently, most Quebec burial plots are leased for 25, 50 or 99 years, and in Blake's case, the 99-year lease expired in 1991. According to the Ontario Ministry of Government Services, the rules are different south of the Ottawa River, where cemeteries sell plots permanently and are banned from leasing them. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to QC-ETANGLO-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Not surprising. The francophone authorities of Quebec will use anything possible to try to intimidate anglophones in Quebec, & demean the long anglophone heritage there. Born & grew up in Quebec, but forced to be elsewhere because I am an anglophone. --- Gordon Becker <beckercg@shaw.ca> wrote: > Only in Quebec, you say. > > A Albertan > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Kathleen Bailey" <kathleen_cba@yahoo.ca> > To: <QC-ETANGLO@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 2:47 AM > Subject: [QC-ETANGLO] Quebec cemeteries > > > For those of you who haven't heard or read this > story..... > > Quebec cemetery firm warns it can dig up bodies if > fee > not paid - Quebec bans plot purchases, Ontario bans > leases > Last Updated: Friday, January 19, 2007 courtesy of > CBC > > A Gatineau man has been told his family must pay > $1,700 to a cemetery management company or risk > having > his grandfather, grandmother and other buried > relatives dug up and their headstones removed. > > Gary Blake said his brother received a letter Friday > from Les Jardins du Souvenir demanding $1,700 to > renew > the lease on a plot the Blake family thought they > had > owned since 1892. > > "The Corporation may repossess any lot whether or > not > it is occupied by bodies, monuments, cinerary urns, > flat markers, slant markers, crypts, columbaria or > other distinctive signs . for failure to renew the > contract when it expires," the letter read. > > Blake, 68, visited the snow-covered graves of his > father, his grandmother, and at least five other > members of his family at Saint Paul Cemetery in > Gatineau's Aylmer sector Thursday. > > As he described the letter, his voice constricted > and > he blinked back tears. > > "There was no compassion shown towards anybody," he > said. "It's the only place to come and see your > family." > > Les Jardins du Souvenir declined to comment, but a > spokesman for the company told the Ottawa Citizen > earlier this week that once the lease on a plot has > expired, the cemetery company may dig up the bones > and > urns buried there so they can be re-buried deeper in > the ground and someone else's grave can be put on > top. > > Blake said his great-grandfather purchased the plot > for $10, and his family has paid maintenance fees on > it that are good until 2085, so he was surprised by > the demand for a lease payment. > > "To re-purchase something we already owned didn't > make > sense." > > But a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of > Gatineau that owns the cemetery and the cemetery > maintenance company said that under Quebec law, > neither Blake nor any other individual in Quebec > owns > a cemetery plot. > > "You buy the privilege to use that place," spokesman > René Laprise said. > > Consequently, most Quebec burial plots are leased > for > 25, 50 or 99 years, and in Blake's case, the 99-year > lease expired in 1991. > > According to the Ontario Ministry of Government > Services, the rules are different south of the > Ottawa > River, where cemeteries sell plots permanently and > are > banned from leasing them. > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam > protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to > QC-ETANGLO-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to QC-ETANGLO-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com