All in the family: Cemetery groundskeepers honoured for nearly 100 years of work

A French Canadian family was recognized this week for its unique partnership with a Jewish cemetery after nearly a century of hard labour. Four generations have worked there.

Yves Lahaie has worked for the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery in Montreal his entire life, carrying on a nearly 100-year tradition in his French Canadian family.

When he was a teenager, he began mowing the grounds’ grass every day of the week. Since then, Lahaie has taken charge and he not only raised his own children on the cemetery’s grounds, but has also played a pivotal role in easing other families’ pain on the worst day of their lives.

“To me, everybody that is here, we have to give respect to them,” Lahaie said.

The Lahaie family was honoured this week for its unique partnership spanning decades with the sprawling cemetery in the city’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood. Four generations of workers were recognized with their own section named after them in a touching ceremony Monday.

“It’s like my family,” Lahaie said. “This place is my family.”

The family has dedicated themselves to maintaining the site, starting with Lahaie’s grandfather, who began his career in the 1930s and dug graves by hand.

“Sixteen members of the same family have worked in this cemetery. It’s incredible, it’s a partnership,” said Jonathan Wise, executive director of the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery.

“Without them, we couldn’t do this. They know every single section, they know every single portion.”