Media push for cemetery resolution
Our media have tended to take the side of the “customer” in the ongoing labour dispute at Notre‑Dame‑des‑Neiges and indeed I just heard a CBC radio news clip featuring a woman weeping loudly about not having a grave to visit.
CBC did, at least, talk to a union rep, who said his people want a resolution too, but why is heat not being brought on the ownership of the cemetery to make a fair offer to its workers, and hire a few more people, since under‑staffing is one of the issues?
(In fact, why do we allow a big thing like the municipal cemetery to belong to a single religious order? We are obliged by law to dispose of the dead in certain ways – why does this remain so expensive and so shrouded in antique ritual?)
Anyway, Monday morning most media have some kind of report on the state of things at NDN, leaning hard on the sad families angle.
jeather 10:29 on 2023-05-15 Permalink
Without judging the reality of the situation, I’m surprised by what the parish claims to be paying, it’s higher than I would have guessed.
Derek 11:19 on 2023-05-15 Permalink
As a person who lost two very close relatives during the pandemic and who were eventually buried in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, I can say that the grief of losing your loved ones and then not having closure because you are awaiting burial can be difficult to manage. Kate has expressed some cynicism on this subject before but the mental health effect is real. Yes we want fair wages for the employees and maybe the cemetery’s administration is not forthcoming with their finances or not making fair offers (I make no judgment on that), but minimizing the effects on the families of late loved ones in cold storage is insensitive at best. Empathy is not a zero-sum game.
Ephraim 12:32 on 2023-05-15 Permalink
Sorry, but I have a very low tolerance of the Sulpicians, be it for the cemetary, their land or Notre Dame. Have you seen how much they charge just to see Notre Dame? And how much of our tax money has gone in to fix it… and we are still asked to pay. It’s $14 plus a $1 (illegal under Quebec law) fee per person…. $15 to see Notre Dame! And how much of our tax money has gone into this building, that they now charge $15 for a visit. Heck, Disney+ is just $12 for a whole month.
SMD 13:45 on 2023-05-15 Permalink
Jean-François Nadeau proposes nationalizing Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in his Le Devoir column today. He traces the hubris of the Sulpiciens through Montreal history, both past and recent, and says we should consider running the cemetery as a collective good.