Quebec man suing Longueuil funeral home for allegedly cremating his mother’s body against his wishes

Quebecer Stéphane Thalès is taking legal action against a funeral company, alleging his mother Édith Jean-Philippe was cremated without his consent.

Thalès has filed a civil lawsuit against Service Corporation International, the parent company of funeral home La Maison Darche, in Longueuil.

Thalès and his legal team say the case marks the first time in Canada that a funeral company is being taken to court for willingly disregarding a family’s funeral wishes.

“You are robbed of this thing that is truly symbolic for this person,” said Thalès. “It’s a unique moment where we wrap up her lifetime.”

A nurse by trade and primary caretaker to his mother who was suffering from terminal cancer, Thalès looked after her for the last 15 months of her life. He says arrangements had already been put in place with the funeral home at the time of her passing at the end of November 2015.

When signing the contract, Thalès says he made clear he wanted the funeral to be delayed until spring — that was when his mother’s birthday was, as well as Mother’s day.

“I didn’t want to bury her in the snow,” he said. “She comes from a hot country, she wouldn’t have liked that.”

Thalès said initially La Maison Darche had no issue with this delay, but things changed suddenly after receiving a call from a manager. Thalès said that representatives of the Longueuil funeral home’s parent company pressured him into signing off on cremation, which he refused in writing.

All this, despite a notarized will where his mother requested to be buried. 

“To this day I still haven’t had any explanation why. And then he said, ‘well, we’re going to do it anyway, and if you’re not happy, just sue us.'” recounted Thalès.

The Center for Research-Action on Race Relations(CRARR) has been supporting Thalès as his case moves through the courts. Executive director Fo Niemi says this case represents a message to funeral companies to respect different cultures’ burial traditions.

“It’s the Catholic faith and also Haitian, sort of tradition,” said Niemi. “It’s very important for the parents’ wish to be respected, particularly when it comes to burial.”

According to Thalès’ legal advisors, multiple of his rights were violated including his right to freedom of religion.

“Thalès wanted a funeral and a church ceremony in the presence of his loved ones, which is a symbolic moment as he expressed it,” said lawyer Aymar Missakila, who was representing Thalès until recently. “By violating also his freedom of privacy, that is to say to be between himself and his family, to live these difficult moments, he was deprived of that.”

They also say that willfully incinerating someone against family wishes and a notarized will is a first in Canada.

“From our point of view, against the will of the Executor who expressed it clearly, and against the will of the deceased mother, that this desire is well expressed in the will,” said Missakila.

“In the midst of the time when I found the lawyer they had already cremated her,” added Thalès. “It felt like, I can’t believe they did that.”

La Maison Darche funeral home told CityNews in a statement: “We value the privacy of the families we are honoured to serve and therefore, cannot share certain matters with the media.”

Thalès and his legal team began legal proceedings in 2019 and now have six months to prepare for the next stage.

This year marks 10 years since the death of his mother – something Thalès says he struggles to move on from.

“It’s inside of me,” said Thalès. “My grief is not complete, forget it. I’m stuck in time because of that.”