Location, Bylaws & Contact

 

DEFINITIONS 

Burial/Interment: The opening of a lot and then the placing of dead human remains or cremated human remains in that lot, followed by closing the lot. The lot may be a grave in the ground, a crypt in a mausoleum or a niche in a columbarium. 

By-laws: The rules and regulations under which the Cemetery and/or Crematorium operates. 

Care and Maintenance Fund: It is a requirement under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002 (FBCSA) and Ontario Regulation 30/11 and 184/12 (O. Reg. 30/11 & 184/12) that a prescribed amount or a percentage of the purchase price (excluding tax) of all interment and scattering rights sold, transferred, assigned or permitted; and prescribed amounts for monuments and markers, is contributed into the care and maintenance fund. If no scattering rights are sold but scattering is permitted a prescribed amount must be contributed to the fund when the scattering is conducted. Interest earned from this fund is used to provide care and maintenance of lots, plots, markers and monuments at the cemetery. 

Contract: For purposes of these by-laws, all purchasers of interment or scattering rights, or other cemetery supplies and services must receive a copy of the contract they and the cemetery operator have signed detailing the obligations of both parties, and acknowledging receipt and acceptance of the cemetery by-laws, a copy of the Consumer Information Guide and the Price List. 

Corner Posts: Shall mean any stone or other land markers set flush with the surface of the ground and used to indicate the location of a lot or plot. 

Grave: (Also known as a Lot) means any inground burial space intended for the interment of a child, adult or cremated human remains. 

Interment Right: The right to require or direct the interment of human remains or cremated human remains in a grave, lot, niche or crypt and to authorize the installation of a monument or marker. 

Interment Rights Certificate: The document issued by the cemetery operator to the purchaser once the interment rights to a specific lot have been paid in full, identifying ownership and authority over those specific interment rights. 

Interment Rights Holder: The person(s) authorized or entitled to inter human remains in a specified lot. They may be the person named in the Interment Rights Certificate or such other person to whom the rights have been assigned. 

Lot: For the purposes of these By-Laws a lot is a single grave space. 

 

Marker: Shall mean any permanent memorial structure – monument, plaque, headstone, cornerstone or other structure or ornament affixed or intended to be affixed to a burial lot, mausoleum crypt, columbarium niche or other structure or place intended for the deposit of human remains and may be used to indicate the location of a burial. 

Niche: An individual compartment in a columbarium for the entombment of cremated human remains. 

Plot: For the purposes of these by-laws, a plot means two or more lots in respect of which the rights to inter have been sold as a unit. 

 

GENERAL INFORMATION 

Hours of Operation: 

Visitation Hours: Daylight hours, dawn to dusk. 

Office Hours: 10-4 week days 

Burial Hours: Daylight hours dawn to dusk. 

General Conduct: 

The cemetery reserves full control over the cemetery operations and management of land within the cemetery grounds. 

No person may damage, destroy, remove or deface any property within the Cemetery. All visitors should conduct themselves in a quiet manner that shall not disturb any service being held. 

Children under the age of 12 are not permitted within the Cemetery, except in the charge of an adult, who shall be responsible for them. 

Pets and recreational vehicles are not permitted within the Cemetery. Service animals or working pets allowed.

 

By Law Amendments:

   The cemetery shall be governed by these by-laws, and all procedures will comply with the FBCSA and O. Reg. 30/11 and 184/12, which may be amended periodically.

 

   All by-law amendments must be:

1. Published once in a newspaper with general circulation in the locality in which the cemetery is located;
2. Conspicuously posted on a sign at the entrance of the cemetery; and
3. Delivered to each supplier of markers who has delivered a marker to the cemetery during the previous year, if the by-law or by-law amendment pertains to markers or their installation.

 

    All by-laws and by-law amendments are subject to the approval of the Registrar, FBCSA, BAO.

 

Public Register:

     Provincial legislation – Section 110 of O. Reg. 30/11 requires all cemeteries and crematoriums to maintain a  public register that is available to the public during regular office hours.

 

Liability: 

The cemetery operator will not be held liable for any loss or damage, without limitation (including damage by the elements, Acts of God, or vandals) to, any lot, plot, columbarium niche, mausoleum crypt, monument, marker, or other article that has been placed in relation to an interment or scattering right, save and except for direct loss or damage caused by gross negligence of the cemetery. 

Pets or Other Animals: 

Pets or other lower animals, including cremated animal remains, are not allowed to be buried on cemetery grounds. 

 

Right to Re-Survey: 

The Cemetery has the right at any time to re-survey, enlarge, diminish, re-plot, change or remove plantings, grade, close pathways or roads, alter in shape or size, or otherwise change all or any part of the cemetery, subject to approval of the appropriate authorities. 

Transfer of Interment Rights:

The cemetery operator prohibits the resale of interment rights to a third party and will repurchase these rights from the interment rights holder or such other person to whom the interment rights have been assigned, for the amount paid at time of sale,  less any care and maintenance and HST contribution amount previously made. The cemetery operator is not required to repurchase unused interment rights in a plot (more than one lot) if one of the interment rights in the plot has been exercised. 

Transfer of Interment Rights is allowed to a Family member. A New Interment Rights Certificate will be issued by the cemetery operator to the new Family Member Transferee upon registration of transfer. Transfer is applicable to family members only, including common law partners, siblings, children and grandchildren. Transfer Fee shall also be subject to making the necessary adjustments  in the care and maintenance fund. All transactions are to be registered with The York Cemetery.  

 If the original Interment Rights Certificate is misplaced the cemetery operator must issue a duplicate certificate in order to complete the transfer of ownership of the Interment Right, and the cemetery operator is entitled to charge an administration fee (as shown on the cemetery’s price list) for the issuance of a Duplicate Certificate and Rights transferring.

Care and Maintenance Fund Contributions: 

• It is a requirement under the FBCSA and O. Reg. 30/11 and 184/12 that a prescribed amount or a percentage of the purchase price (excluding tax) of all interment and scattering rights sold; and prescribed amounts for monuments and markers is contributed into the care and maintenance fund. If no scattering rights are sold but scattering is permitted a prescribed amount must be contributed to the fund when the scattering is conducted. Interest earned from this fund is used to provide care and maintenance of lots, plots, markers and monuments at the cemetery. Contributions to the care and maintenance fund are not refundable except when interment or scattering rights are canceled within the 30-day cooling off period. 

BURIAL OF CREMATED REMAINS 

• Interment rights holder(s) must provide written authorization prior to a burial, or an entombment taking place. Should the interment rights holder be deceased, authorization must be provided in writing by the person authorized to act on behalf of the interment rights holder in keeping with the Succession Law Reform Act i.e. Personal Representative, Estate Trustee, Executor or next of kin. 
• A burial permit issued by the Registrar General or equivalent document showing that the death has been registered with the province must be provided to the cemetery office prior to a burial, or entombment taking place. A Certificate of Cremation must be submitted to the cemetery office prior to the burial of cremated remains taking place. 
• In accordance with the FBCSA and O. Reg 30/11 and 184/12 the purchaser of interment rights must enter into a cemetery contract, providing such information as may be required by the cemetery operator 

for the completion of the contract and the public register prior to each burial or entombment of human remains, or each scattering of cremated human remains. 

• Payment must be made to the cemetery operator before a burial can take place. 
• The cemetery shall be given 16 business hours of notice for each burial of human remains or scattering of cremated human remains. 
• The opening and closing of graves and niches may only be conducted by cemetery staff or those designated to do work on behalf of the cemetery. 
• Human remains may be disinterred from a lot provided that the written consent (authorization) of the interment rights holder has been received by the cemetery operator and the prior notification of the medical officer of health. A certificate from the local medical officer of health must be received at the cemetery office before the removal of casketed human remains from the cemetery may take place. A certificate from the local medical officer of health is not required for the disinterment of cremated remains from a lot or the removal of cremated remains from the cemetery. 
• In special circumstances the removal of human remains may also be ordered by certain public officials without the consent of the interment rights holder and/or next of kin(s) as per FBCSA, Section 102.1.
• Limit is set for three interments pre lot. One Casket and two cremations. Cremations may be interred in lots other than cremation lots including family plots, if a casket is also to be interred it must be the first.

 

MEMORIALIZATION

• No memorial or other structure shall be erected or permitted on a lot until all charges have been paid in full and/or a permit is obtained from the cemetery operator. 
• No monument, footstone, marker or memorial of any description shall be placed, moved, altered, or removed without permission from the cemetery operator. 
• Minor scraping of the monument base of an upright monument due to grass/lawn maintenance is considered normal wear and tear. 
• The cemetery operator will take reasonable precautions to protect the property of interment rights holders, but it assumes no liability for the loss of, or damage to, any monument, marker, or other structure, or part thereof. 
• Memorials – monuments, markers, plaques etc. are owned by the interment rights holder and the cemetery operator is not responsible for their loss or deterioration. These memorials should be protected by the interment rights holder’s own insurance coverage.

• The cemetery operator reserves the right to determine the maximum size of monuments, their number and their location on each lot or plot. They must not be of a size that would interfere with any future interments. 
• All foundations for monuments and markers shall be built by, or contracted to be built for, the cemetery operator at the expense of the interment rights holder. 
• Should any monument or marker present a risk to public safety because it has become unstable, the cemetery operator shall do whatever it deems necessary by way of repairing, resetting, or laying down the monument or marker or any other remedy to remove the risk. 
• The cemetery operator reserves the right to remove at its sole discretion any marker, monument, or inscription which is not in keeping with the dignity and decorum of the cemetery as determined by the trustees. 
• A monument, private mausoleum, or other structure shall be erected only after the specific design plans have been approved by the cemetery operator including: dimensions, material of structure, construction details, and proposed location. 
• In keeping with the cemetery by-laws only one monument shall be erected within the designated space on any lot. 
• The minimum thickness for flat markers including footstones is 4 inches or 10 cm. 
• All monuments taller than 1 foot shall have a 4 foot deep foundation.
• All monuments and markers shall be constructed of bronze or natural stone (i.e. granite). 
• No monument shall be delivered to the cemetery for installation until the monument foundation has been completed, and the interment rights holder(s) and/or marker retailer have been notified by the cemetery operator. 
• Only one monument on a plot. No more than one monument may be erected or placed on a plot regardless of the number of graves in a plot. 
• Markers and footstones of bronze or granite are permitted with size and quantity restrictions according to cemetery by-laws and the placement of such memorials shall not interfere with future interments. 

Single lot maximum: 36 

Double lot maximum: 48 

Cremation lot maximum: 36 

 

CARE AND PLANTING 

A portion of the price of interment rights is trusted into the Care and Maintenance Fund. The income generated from this fund is used to maintain, secure and preserve the cemetery grounds and markers. Services that can be provided through this fund include: 

• Re-levelling and sodding or seeding of Lots or scattering grounds 
• Maintenance of cemetery roads, sewers and water systems 
• Maintenance of perimeter walls and fences 
• Maintenance of cemetery landscaping 
• Maintenance of columbarium 
• Repairs and general upkeep of cemetery maintenance buildings and equipment 
• No person other than cemetery staff shall remove any sod or in any other way change the surface of the burial lot in the cemetery. 
• No person shall plant trees, flower beds or shrubs in the cemetery except with the approval of the cemetery. 
• Flowers placed on a grave for a funeral shall be removed by the cemetery staff after a reasonable time to protect the sod and maintain the tidy appearance of the cemetery. 

ITEMS THAT ARE PROHIBITED AND PERMITTED 

The cemetery reserves the right to regulate the articles placed on lots or plots that pose a threat to the safety of all interment rights holders, visitors to the cemetery and cemetery employees, that may prevent the cemetery from performing general cemetery operations, or are not in keeping with the respect and dignity of the cemetery. Prohibited from being placed on lots within the cemetery: articles made of hazardous materials such as non-heat resistant glass (excludes glass attached to monuments), ceramics, or corrosive metals; loose stones or sharp objects; trellises or arches; chairs or benches. 

Prohibited articles will be removed and disposed of without notification. 

• The cemetery reserves the right to disallow or remove quantities of memorial wreaths or flowers considered to be excessive and that diminishes the otherwise tidy appearance of the cemetery. 
• Memorial wreaths may be placed in the cemetery only between the first day of Summer and the First of Spring. In order to prepare the grounds for spring, wreaths must be removed prior to the first day of Spring. Wreaths not removed by the first day of Spring will be removed and disposed of by the Cemetery without notification. 

 

CONTRACTOR/MONUMENT DEALER BY-LAWS 

Any contract work to be performed within the cemetery requires the written pre-approval of the interment rights holder and the cemetery operator before the work may begin. Pre-approval includes but is not limited to: landscaping, delivery of monuments and markers, inscriptions, designs, drawings, plans and detailed specifications relating to the work, proof of all applicable government approvals and permits, the location of the work to be performed. It is the responsibility of all contractors to report to the cemetery office and provide the necessary approvals before commencing work at any location on the cemetery property. 

Prior to the start of any said work, contractors must provide proof of: 

WSIB coverage 

Occupational Health and Safety compliance standards 

Environmental Protection 

WHMIS 

Evidence of liability insurance of not less than $2 million 

• All cemetery by-laws apply to all contractors and all work carried out by contractors within the cemetery grounds. 

• Contractors, monument dealers and suppliers shall not enter the cemetery in the evening, weekends or statutory holidays, unless approval has been granted by the cemetery operator. 
• No work will be performed at the cemetery except during the regular business hours of the cemetery. 
• Contractors shall temporarily cease all operations if they are working within 100 meters of a funeral until the conclusion of the service. The cemetery reserves the right to temporarily cease contractor operations at their sole discretion if the noise of the work being performed by the contractor is deemed to be a disturbance to any funeral or public gathering within the cemetery. 
• Contractors, monument dealers and suppliers shall lay wooden planks on the burial lots and paths over which heavy materials are to be moved to protect the surface from damage. 

 

COLUMBARIUM BY-LAWS 

• Payment must be made to the cemetery operator before an interment may take place 
• Only the cemetery operator may open and seal niches for interments. This applies to the inside sealer and the niche front. 
• To ensure quality control, desired uniformity and standard of workmanship, the cemetery reserves the right to inscribe all niche fronts or install all lettering, vases, adornments, or any other approved attachment. 
• No person other than cemetery staff shall remove or alter niche fronts. 

The York Cemetery - St. John's Anglican

Address:  3 Nelles Street, Town of York, Haldimand County, ON, N0A 1R0

Operators Number: 1-888-963-9675