Montrealers protest labour standoff at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, where hundreds remain unburied

Grieving families gathered at Canada’s largest cemetery Sunday to protest the months-long standoff between workers and management that has left hundreds of bodies unburied.

Protesters made their displeasure heard outside the wrought-iron gates of the Notre-Dames-des-Neiges Cemetery, where a strike by more than 100 maintenance and office workers has caused anguish for families for many months.

The cemetery has been closed to the public since mid-January, with the exception of a few days in the spring.

“We’re tired of coming to here for nothing. To put flowers on a grave, in my spot, on my wife’s grave. I get to the gate here and I can’t do it,” said grieving husband Alfred Lalonde.

“There has to be a law passed that the gates stay open and they never close again and negotiate while it’s going on.”

The labour dispute has left more than 300 bodies unburied, with the remains stored at freezing temperatures in an on-site repository.

“We’re hurt, we’re so hurt,” said Jimmy Koliakoudakis, whose mother is in the cold storage. “We’re waking up in the middle of the night. We can’t sleep. We’re trying to support each other.

“We just want to go on with our lives. And we understand that there is a labour dispute, but we don’t want to be the ones held hostage or held prisoner and be the ones stuck in the middle of all this. We just want to go on with our lives.

“I’ll be content and relieved once my mother is buried, not in a freezer.”

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READ: Gates of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery remain closed, families left unable to grieve loved ones

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A tentative agreement reached June 15 to end the strike fell through at the end of June. Members rejected the conciliator’s recommendations and the return-to-work protocol, saying the employer’s proposals were “unacceptable.”

“Absolutely without a doubt, I think the government needs to step in at this point and mandate a return to work,” said Koliakoudakis. “I understand that they can decide what is essential and what’s not, but you know when it comes to dignity and human respect, you cannot continue piling up bodies until you get what you want.

“It’s unethical.”

Nancy Babalis, whose son is buried at the cemetery, called the situation “inhumane.”

“It’s not normal that they are strike for seven months, and we’re paying the price,” said Babalis. “We can’t get to see our loved ones. They have people in the freezer, it’s disgusting.”

Some families managed to make their way into the cemetery Sunday, despite the closure.

“Nobody better stop me,” said Babalis. “And if they want to call the cops, let them call the cops, I don’t care. I’m not trespassing. I’m going in and I’m going to the plot that I paid for. My name is in the deed, so it’s my property. I’m not walking around or vandalizing anything. I’m going exactly to my son, I’m paying my respects to my son and I’m leaving. Let them try to stop me.”

“Nobody is every going to tell me that I cannot come see my daughter,” added Michael Musacchio. “As a father, you do what you have to for your kids, even when they’re not here. So we came and planted flowers. I have my weed wacker in the car, cut the grass, made it pretty. And I’m going to continue.”

Labour Minister Jean Boulet says the parties will meet with him separately on Monday, weeks after a tentative deal fell through.

—With files from The Canadian Press