Families feel like ‘prisoners’ amid labour dispute at Montreal cemetery

Families are waiting to bury their loved ones amid a strike at a Montreal cemetery that has stalled in-ground burials for over two months.

Evanthia Karassavidis’s father died just over a month ago, after suffering two strokes and multiple health conditions.

After his funeral service, Karassavidis and her family were eager to put her 83-year-old father to rest, but she was informed that wouldn’t be possible — his body wouldn’t be buried when expected because of a labour dispute.

“It’s unheard of, it’s a basic right, to me,” said Karassavidis. “We’re shocked in the sense that, how can this be happening? We have enough to deal with.”

On Jan. 12, the operations and maintenance workers at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery went on strike.

Since then, the gates to the cemetery have been closed and no ground burials have taken place.

Mausoleum burials and cremations have continued.

More than two months later, the dispute is still ongoing, and families have been unable to bury their loved ones or visit the graves of relatives.

Dina Ipsilandis’s mother died last week and she said she was shocked to hear that it would be months before her mother is buried.