After the start of the school year, it was the “funeral start” Monday morning at the largest cemetery in Quebec, which reopened its immense wrought iron gates to the public after approximately eight months of closure due to a labor conflict.
Around 11 a.m., it was rush hour to photograph the line of cars in front of one of the main entrances, so I had to back up onto Chemin de la Côte-de-Neiges.
There were two types of visitors on Monday: the happy and the angry.
Those who found their large urban park for jogging, walking or birdwatching smiled.
Retirees Jean-Claude Drapeau, Yvon Gaudet and Réjean Lavallée raced up and down the steep terrain.
“I plan to be buried here with a tree on top of my ashes as a grave,” Ginette, a local woman who was finally reconnecting with the park where she has been walking for 20 years, told me.
Joggers Jean-Claude Drapeau Réjean Lavallée and Yvon Gaudet on the right were happily returning to one of their favorite rural running areas.
Louis-Philippe Messier
But for those whose loved ones died during the months of closure, the accounts are not necessarily yet settled…
Some visitors hurled insults at the employees they saw working in the field.
Near the administration building, whose doors were closed during my morning visit, angry people were chatting among themselves.
“As if the death of my mother Penelope was not enough, my family had to live for months knowing she was in a freezer on a shelf like in a Home Depot,” laments Jimmy Koliakoudakis.
350 to 400 remains on hold were put “in the fridge” for months, according to the Cemetery Office Workers’ Union.
“I lost my 43-year-old daughter, Nancy, in June… and I was able to give her space in the mausoleum that I had bought for myself,” says Salvatore Gagliardi.
As burial in a mausoleum (a sort of “necro-condo” of coffins inserted in sealed niches) does not involve heavy machinery, these burials continued despite the strike.
“As it was a Saturday, I was charged an extra $1,250 even though we had already purchased two places at the mausoleum for more than $30,000!”
“We are here to finalize our daughter’s plaque by adding the lettering and decorations, but there is no one in the office and there is no response,” exasperated Louise Gagliardi, crying.
Louise and Salvatore Gagliardi came up against closed doors wanting to talk to people to finalize the funeral plaque for their daughter Nancy, who died last June and was buried in the Esther-Blondin mausoleum.
Louis-Philippe Messier
The employees who would normally have taken care of Mme Gagliardi are still on strike, for their part, and picketing in front of the entrance. Because the conflict is resolved with blue-collar workers, but not with white-collar workers…
“Something is wrong with this cemetery, and it is not the fault of the employees if the organization has changed directors six or seven times in a few years and if the cemetery has accumulated deficits of 10 to 12 million per year. year for 10 or 12 years,” comments Alain Tremblay, the founder of the Écomuseum of Funeral and Commemorative Heritage, who has been following the issue closely for years.
On the side of the Factory, which administers the cemetery, we assure that we can honor all services for the families of the deceased.
“Funerals have resumed two weeks ago and we are giving ourselves until December to completely catch up,” says Michel St-Amour, volunteer administrator.
At the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery, if the dead rest in peace, we definitely cannot say the same thing about the living.