Diane Murphy wants her husband to be buried next to their son in a Newmarket cemetery.
When their son passed away in 2011, he was buried in St. John Catholic Cemetery on Old Main Street in a section with plots set aside for individuals who do not have sufficient funds in their estate to cover the cost of a basic funeral, burial or cremation.
However, the plot beside her son's is unavailable for purchase, the Richmond Hill resident said she was told by the St. John Chrysostom Parish, which operates the cemetery with a volunteer board of directors.
“I was really, really upset to find my son is buried in the welfare section,” she said. “The stigma of being in a welfare section isn’t appropriate in this day and age.”
After her protests, Murphy was told a one-time exception would be granted to permit her husband to be buried near their son, she said. But her other son wishes to be buried by his brother someday, so it remains an issue.
She has tried to buy a spot elsewhere and look for a swap, to no avail.
“Social services doesn’t even own the spots, the cemetery is just holding them,” she said, adding they should not "have them sequestered into one particular area."
“It’s fine to have them, but not to be confining them all to one particular area,” she said.
St. John Catholic Cemetery declined to comment and said it does not discuss individual interments with anyone outside the family.
Under the Ontario Works Act, the province will pay for funeral services up to a certain amount for those in financial need at their cemetery of preference, through an application process. The payment can cover expenses, including transportation of remains, burial plot, cremation and an urn or casket.
At neighbouring Newmarket Cemetery, board secretary Matt Evans said they have plots paid by Ontario Works spread throughout the cemetery, with anyone able to choose a plot based on availability. However, the cemetery currently does not have single plots available, as it is full.
"We treated everybody the same," Evans said, adding that can vary by cemetery.
While some cemeteries might allow for them anywhere on the land based on availability, others might choose to keep them together, he said.
"Some of the for-profit places, they will go out of their way to have a worse-looking area that they feel can’t sell, and they’ll make that their Ontario Works. Not all cemeteries are like that," he said.
The St. John Chrysostom Parish is a registered charity, with the St. John Catholic Cemetery run by a volunteer board of directors.
Murphy said the proper thing to do would be to make spaces more readily available.
"I’m still shocked that the Catholic cemetery segregates people. It’s unforgivable," she said in a letter.
