Dead bodies are going unclaimed in Ontario, and the numbers are climbing

The number of dead people in Ontario whose bodies were not claimed by loved ones or family members has surged in the last few years, according to provincial figures. 

A total of 1,183 bodies went unclaimed in 2023 compared to 983 in 2022 and 438 in 2019, the Office of the Chief Coroner says.

Since 2019, there was been a 170 per cent increase in the number of unclaimed bodies. 

It's likely many of those people lived with addition or mental health problems and had little support in their lives, said Greg Nash, who's with London's InterCommunity Health Centre and works with marginalized people.

"It really speaks to how people get disconnected from community, including their immediate family, and the significant impact that has on the individual," he said. "It's such a sad statistic." 

The issue of unclaimed bodies is prominent in other areas of the country.

In St. John's, cadavers are accumulating in storage units outside the Health Sciences Centre as the cost of living and burials rise.

In Ontario, the coroner's office says a search for a "claimant" — a person or organization that's willing to assume responsibility — needs to be conducted when a deceased person has no identified next of kin.

Municipalities are responsible for paying for the burial people whose bodies aren't claimed.

Here are the four Ontario cities with the highest numbers in 2023, with 2019 in brackets:

In 2023, there were also 32 unclaimed bodies in Sudbury, 23 in Kingston and 10 in Thunder Bay.

"I think it's a fair assumption that many of these people, though they may not be homeless, had some form of housing deprivation," Nash said.

"It's significant for someone to be isolated to that degree, knowing that they don't have any support. It's the disconnection and the lack of resources and care that someone's getting that leads to that sort of deprivation and disconnection from family."