Funeral planning can be a difficult process while grieving the loss of a loved one. But having a funeral provides those who are grieving a place to receive support, come to terms with their loss, say goodbye, and honor their loved one’s life. Being surrounded by family and friends lets everyone share stories and memories and creates a lasting support system as everyone begins their grief journey.
Burial Services
Depending on your personal preferences, there are several services to choose from for a loved one’s burial:
- For immediate burial, your loved one will be buried or entombed without a public service or gathering.
- A visitation, also called a viewing, calling hours, or wake, lets everyone gather together in a room with your loved one in an open or closed casket to say goodbye and comfort the bereaved.
- Funeral or memorial services can be held at a funeral home, church, or even your home. The service is for celebrating and honoring your loved one’s life. Both the visitation and service can be personalized to your loved one’s passions.
- Graveside, chapel, or committal services take place at the cemetery. They let everyone be present as their loved one is transferred to his or her final resting place through ground burial.
Cremation Services
When burial is not possible, preferred or does not align with your spiritual beliefs, Cremation could be a suitable alternative for your deceased loved one.
We offer a variety of services that complement cremation as a means to honor you loved one’s life, ranging from celebration of life ceremonies with (or without) an urn present, to full funeral services with a private cremation.
After the cremation and services, there are several options for your loved one’s final disposition:
- Interment is when you bury or entomb your loved one's cremated remains. This can be in a family plot, memorial site, cremation niche or urn garden, or other indoor and outdoor locations. Please reach out to our staff for a detailed list of interment options.
- Graveside cremation services are similar to traditional ground burials, as everyone is at the burial of the cremated remains and honor your loved one through other meaningful tributes.
- Scattering is when you spread your loved one's cremated remains in a memorial garden, cemetery, over water, or another significant location. You also can choose to scatter some of the cremated remains and retain the rest in an urn for interment or another form of disposition.
- By placing cremated remains in multiple urns, family members who live in different locations can each have their loved one's final resting place close to them.
Burial Outside of Canada
When a family decides they want to repatriate their loved one to their home country, it can seem like an overwhelming task. We specialize in this exact service and have years of experience in this area.
- Some people elect to have visitation at the funeral home prior to the shipment, while others decide to arrange the flight as soon as possible.
- As repatriation involves dealing with official government offices, branches, consulates and embassies; there is quite a lot of information we need to gather in order to do so. We recommend contacting us for a list of what is required.
- An important factor to consider is obtaining the ‘consignee’ information; in other words, full name, address, phone number and contact name for the funeral home or transfer service picking up the casket and clearing customs at the final destination.
- Although it is not required for family members to travel with their loved one, some families wish to do so. If you wish to travel, we recommend that you wait until we have secured the flight for your loved one