SYDNEY, N.S. — A Sydney funeral home may have surrendered its licence and be out of business but they still hold something meaningful to families who have lost loved ones.
Elisabeth Borden of Valley, N.S., said the former S.W. Chant Funeral Home still has the cremated remains of her husband’s uncle and, despite trying for a long time, they cannot connect with anyone at the funeral home.
“My husband's uncle's ashes are in their care and burial was already paid for," she said. “We are concerned, as we don't know what they have done with them.”
As soon as the news broke on the fire at Chants back in February, Borden and her husband contacted the funeral home.
“It sounded like they were kind of working off-site to keep in connect with people,” she said.
“They also confirmed with us — that day — that the remains were not kept on site so the remains were safe. That was the only time we were able to reach them — since, it has been to no avail.”
For the past while, Borden and her husband were ready to come down to Sydney to collect the remains but haven’t been able to reach anyone.
That has left Borden concerned, and also suggesting that one would think Chants would want to connect with families and have people come in to pick up remains. The family would like to have their loved one buried with his sister at Hardwood Hill Cemetery in Sydney.
“His burial has been paid for, it just hasn’t been done yet,” she said.
Gary Andrea, communications with Service Nova Scotia, said Chant’s Funeral Home is no longer licensed and is not allowed to provide any funeral merchandise and services to the public. Andrea said they do not have information on how many cremated remains Chants has in its care. The funeral home is expected to return cremated remains to family members when requested, he added.
Adam Tipert, chair of the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, said so far said there has been only one inquiry from a public member concerned about receiving cremated remains that are in the custody of Chants.
“Our board corresponded directly with them and, within a very short period of time, the request was granted."
Tipert said there is no legislation, regulations or policy under the board or the province about custody of cremated remains in funeral homes.
As a result, he said, they would be dealt with on an individual basis, with each and every funeral home having its policy determined through discussions between the funeral home and next-of-kin.
Sometimes, Tipert said, funeral homes retain ashes while waiting for a second spouse, so the two can be combined or interred in one event, or yet-to-be-determined period of time so all family members can gather back in their respected communities to do the interments. Sometimes remains are left with the funeral homes without predetermined plans of what is to happen next. Tipert said it’s the responsibility of each funeral home individually to have a policy in place or documentation they could execute between family members and themselves to determine the timeline of the final disposition of those ashes. Some ashes are forgotten, he admitted.
“In all honesty, the onus is on the family or the next-of-kin of the deceased to collect those cremated remains and have them placed in whatever their choice of disposition is.”
Anyone having trouble receiving cremated remains from Chant’s Funeral Home is asked to contact Service Nova Scotia at 902-424-5819 or the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors at 902-407-6002
In June 2018, Service Nova Scotia announced a six-month suspension of Chant's Funeral Home’s licence to sell prearranged funeral plans and permanently revoked its ability to sell trust funds after investigating a complaint of a prearranged funeral, although there were no funds in the funeral home’s trust account. In February, a fire caused substantial damage to the facility and it was closed.
Soon after, Sheldon Chant, owner of the funeral home, informed Service Nova Scotia they would be surrendering their licence. Since that time, the licence has been officially cancelled.
In the meantime, there was a total of 102 unfunded, pre-arranged trust contracts verified with Chant’s, with a value of approximately $315,000. All individuals who came forward with proof of unfunded pre-arranged funeral plans have been refunded.
The Cape Breton Regional Police recently confirmed an investigation into an allegation of fraud against S.W. Chant and Son Funeral Home Ltd. in Sydney has ended with no charges being laid.
However, a formal inquiry by the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors into the professional conduct of some of the funeral directors and/or embalmers of the former funeral home is moving ahead.
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