‘It cannot happen again’ says grieving Montrealers as Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery set to reopen

Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery could reopen its gates to visitors by early September, following the end of a labour dispute that started in January.

Last week, an agreement was reached between the union for operations staff and management. On Monday, workers were back on the job, cleaning the grounds that have become overgrown and littered with branches from April’s ice storm.

Fallen trees and over grown grass in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery. (Felisha Adam, CityNews Image)

While family members say they are able to breathe a sigh of relief, they say something like this should never happen again. 

“At this point, we just want our families to be buried and the suffering to basically end,” says Jimmy Koliakoudakis, adding “I think that the news of the cemetery opening is somewhat soothing to the families, knowing that we’re getting closer to what we wanted…it’s a step forward, but we’re not there yet.”

Jimmy Koliakoudakis stands in front of Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery gates (Felisha Adam, CityNews Image)

The strike saw 100 operations and maintenance workers off the job for six months now over, there is a backlog of unburied bodies in cold storage, a some 300 plus.

La Fabrique, the non-profit that runs the cemetery, says it will take months to clear a backlog of burials, and work on the grounds. But they are working to bring back normalcy as fast as possible.

“We have no idea of when it’s going to happen,” says Koliakoudakis, who has been waiting since February to bury his mother, and while burials are no longer paused, with the backlog, he fears he may be one of the many who will have to wait until December to see their loved ones buried. 

“I don’t think we expect any relief until the families are actually buried, and the ceremony has been completed,” says Koliakoudakis.

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Until early September, only people attending burial ceremonies will be granted access to the site, and some have been able to put their loved ones to rest.

CityNews reached out to the union representative for maintenance workers for comment about the cleanup work at the cemetery that started Monday, but did not hear back. On Thursday morning, we were not able to see anyone through the gates, doing this work, but branches that fell during April’s Ice storm and the over grown lawn covering most if not all the headstones of graves were clearly visible.

Roughly 17 of the cemetery’s office staff remain on strike, but their absence is not expected to affect services.

“This was wrong. It was inhumane, and it cannot happen again. This seems to be a pattern. Every time there’s a labour contract that’s up, there’s a problem with the cemetery,” says Michael Musacchio whose daughter is buried in the cemetery. He fears a strike will happen once more come 2027 when the new labour contract ends.

Broken gates of Montreal’s Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery. (Felisha Adam, CityNews, Image)

“I have a feeling that if things don’t change, we’re going to be back. And it’s not a good thing to put people through this again,” he says. 

And Koliakoudakis agrees, “It’s going to happen again unless the government steps in and says at a certain point, burials need to be considered an essential service. You cannot hold on to loved ones, as a leverage or a negotiating tactic.”