ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A funeral director in St. John’s says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn’t get enough government help to pay for a funeral.
John Anderson, director and embalmer at Caul’s Funeral Home in St. John’s, N.L., says the province offers funeral homes too little money to provide services for people on income assistance and old age security programs.
He says people become frustrated with how little funeral homes can provide them, and some just walk away and leave their loved ones sitting in freezers.
Emails obtained by the provincial NDP through access to information legislation show health officials warning in November 2021 that morgues and freezer units brought in to handle overflow were at capacity.
Notes from a meeting of health officials on Jan. 9 this year say there were 27 unclaimed bodies in “temporary storage” at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s, up from 12 in November 2021.
Paul Pike, minister of children, seniors and social development, says his department is aware of some of the issues Anderson has raised, and it is working with funeral homes to update its assistance programs.
He says the province has provided funeral benefits for almost 700 people in the last two years, and the average assistance amount was $3,000 per service.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2024.