Questions and Answers
For Licensees of the BAO
and the public

Q1. Who would pay for the licensing fee increase?

A1. The proposed licensing fee increase would be paid by the professionals and businesses licensed by the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO).

Q2. How much would it cost?

A2.

• For Personal Licensees: The fee increase would be 7.6 per cent simply to cover inflation.
• For Business Operators: The fee increase would address inflation, plus an increase (for operators only) to cover the BAO’s growth obligations related to its strategic plan and AG recommendations. The fees would be equalized among operator types: 
  • Cemeteries, crematoriums and hydrolysis facilities would pay $30 total per death (up from $13.63).
  • Funeral homes and transfer services would pay $30 total per death (up from $18.18).

There is also a $300 licensing minimum fee for the funeral homes and transfer services, who have fewer than 10 deaths in a year. They would be exempt from the $30 per death fee.

Q3. When would licensees start paying this new fee?

A3. Subject to the approval of the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery, the fee increase for the 2024 licensing year would become effective July 1, 2023. Licence renewal fees for bereavement sector businesses are based on their prior 12 months of activity (number of deaths registered, cremations, scatterings, or interments).

Q4. What is the proposed fee increase for? Why is the BAO increasing it again?

A4. Our fee increase last year, the first one ever for the BAO, was needed to address cumulative inflationary cost increases after years of no fee increase at all.

The proposed new fee increase is needed to address:

• The highest 12-month rate of national inflation in four decades;
• Implementing our strategic plan and recommendations of the Office of the Auditor General (AG) of Ontario, as we grow our services and staffing level. The increase is needed to implement and sustain those improvements in regulating, providing guidance and supporting you as professionals to facilitate compliance and elevate the profession.  
• A new and modern BAO database system to better organize and track licensee status.

Q5. Who decides whether the proposed fee increase would be implemented?

A5. The proposed fee increase is subject to the approval of the Ontario Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery.

Q6. Is there a survey to express our opinion?

A6. Yes. There is Public Survey and a Licensee Survey, for businesses and personal licensees of the BAO.

Q7. How long will the surveys be available?

A7. The two surveys are open for responses for 35 days, from Feb. 6 to the end of day on March 13, 2023.

Q8. Where do I find the surveys?

A8. The Public Survey is posted on the BAO’s Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and can be accessed here. Licensees have been emailed their survey.

Q9. Did the BAO do any analysis about licensee fees?

A9. Yes. We developed and submitted our Fee Review Analysis to the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery on Dec. 13, 2022. You may read it here.

Q10. In the proposed licence fee increase, is the exemption for small cemeteries with fewer than 10 interments (burials) still in effect?

A10. Yes, the fewer-than-10-deaths a year exemption still applies to cemetery operators.

Q11. When it comes to January of 2024, how will the fees be calculated?  Will it be $30 per burial/funeral for all done in 2023,  or only $30 for those done from July 1, 2023 onward, when the price increase goes into effect?

A11. For the 2024 licensing year, the existing rate will be applied against activities conducted between January to June, whereas the $30 rate will be applied against activities conducted between July and December. Unique to the 2024 licensing year, online and paper renewal forms will reflect this calculation.

Background question and answer for the public

Q. What is the BAO?

A. The Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO) is a government delegated authority administering provisions of the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002 (FBCSA) on behalf of the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery. Responsible for protection of the public interest, the BAO regulates and supports licensed: funeral establishment operators, directors and preplanners; cemetery, crematorium and alternative disposition operators; transfer service operators; and bereavement sector sales representatives across Ontario. The BAO is wholly funded by licensee fees (not tax dollars).

Got another question? Please email BAO Communications Manager David.Brazeau@TheBAO.ca.