The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery conflict affected many families.
(Photo: Éric Carrière)
Hundreds of corpses locked out
Spring 2007. Unable to come to an agreement with its 130 employees, the Notre-Dame-de-Montréal parish began a lockout on May 16 that would last four months, until the Charest government threatened to force the cemetery workers back on the job at the beginning of September.
Since then, the union has been back to work four days a week, mowing the lawn and maintaining the grounds to prepare for the burial of the 498 corpses that were in refrigeration during the entire workers’ strike. Of these, about 150 bodies are destined for mausoleums, while the remaining 347 will be buried in the ground. The entire job will take several months, but 59 bodies that can only be buried during the warm season have been given priority.
(Translated by Elyse Amend)
(Photo: Éric Carrière)