Notice to the Consumer: Registrar orders a Toronto cemetery to cease operations for not establishing a required trust fund

The Registrar has ordered a cemetery operator in Toronto to immediately cease sales.

The order was issued as a result of the cemetery operator’s non-compliance with the law to establish a care and maintenance trust fund and financial reporting requirements. (This order relates to new burials and sales only — and not to prepaid arrangements. Burials will continue for anyone who had interment rights or a reservation.)

The Registrar, of the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Service Act, 2002 (FBCSA), ordered that the operator of Husiatner Klaus Beth Israel Cemetery cease the following activities:

• Selling or offering to sell interment rights, and licensed supplies and/or services as described in the FBCSA
• Providing licensed supplies and/or services as described in the FBCSA, including arranging for and/or providing burial services for the public/consumers through licensed funeral establishment operators

Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO) records indicate that:

• The Husiatner Klaus Beth Israel Cemetery Board is not in compliance with the FBCSA and its regulations
• Maury M. Kelman is in charge of day-to-day operations as the operator of the Husiatner Klaus Beth Israel Cemetery Board
• Kelman has been repeatedly directed by the BAO to comply with the FBCSA and has failed to do so. The operator has not provided timely yearly reports or maintained trust funds with prescribed trustees as required by the FBCSA for several years.

A care and maintenance fund is a trust fund that helps ensure the long-term upkeep of a cemetery. A cemetery operator is required to make contributions to the fund from the sale of in-ground graves, crypts, tombs, niches and scattering rights. The fund pays for maintenance costs after a cemetery has stopped making sales.

The order will remain in place until further notice. If charges are laid by the Registrar, and convictions follow, potential penalties for an individual for each offence under the FBCSA may be a fine of not more than $50,000, imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less a day, or both. A corporation convicted of an offence under the FBCSA is liable to a fine of not more than $250,000.

About the BAO

The Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO) is a government delegated authority and not-for-profit corporation 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).

Media Contact
David.Brazeau@thebao.ca
Manager, Communications, BAO