Obituary website sells memorials for Humboldt victims without family permission

Obituaries for victims of the HumboldtBroncos crash haveappearedon a website that aggregates death notices from across Canada, while addingoffers to purchase gifts and memorials, without the involvement or permission of the families.

The site also has connections to Afterlife, another obituary site which shut down earlier this year amid criticism.

Everhereposted obituaries for12 of the 16 people who were killed on April 6 in the Broncos bus crashbetween Tisdale and Nipawin, Sask.

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Funeral officialsand family members tell CBCNews the obituaries were listed without their permission.

Many of them are also inaccurate,with an incorrect place of death noted for most of the victims.

Everhere calls itself a "database of obituaries that are found online" and runs advertisements alongside them. The site charges $4.99 to remove the ads.

It alsoprovides links to purchase flowers and to light digital memorial candles, which sell from $5.99 up to $29.99.

As of Saturday evening, two people appeared to have purchased digital memorial candles on Everhere in honour of Broncos defenceman Logan Boulet.

Chris Jong, general manager for Martin Brothers Funeral Chapel in Lethbridge, Alta. which provided funeral services for Bouletsaid he's never heard of Everhere and the obituary provided on the website was not authorized by the family.

"I'm fourth generation funeral director. I've been 15 years in funeral service just myself. I've never seen anything like this before," said Jong.

Jongsaid he doesn't have any idea where money spent on Boulet'sEverhereobituary may have gone, because it did not go to the family's chosen funeral provider.

'Unbelievable'

BonnieSchatz, mother of crash victim LoganSchatz, said her family did not place an obituary with Everhere.

"Unbelievable that people would do something like that," she said.

Everherelisted Logan's place of death asMartensville, Sask., a community some 200 kilometres from the crash site.

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That obituary has sincedisappeared from the site.

It is not clear if any families of the crash victims dealt with Everhere.

EverhereCEO Pascal (Paco)Leclercdeclined to be interviewed by CBC News. But, in an exchange of emails, said the obituaries posted on the site without the involvement of families use only "basic facts of the deceased."

He said the company's mission is to connect society with grieving families, and that family members can ask for obituaries to be removed.

Taking advantage?

Schatz said the site "obviously took it from the original," referring to the obituary placed in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and on the Saskatoon Funeral Home's website.

The funeral home provided the obituary, as written by the family, to the newspaper but not to Everhere.com, accordingto funeral director Morgan Edwards.

Funeral home websitesare provided as a service, said Edwards, and don't sell "condolence items."

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"It's basically a hub for the family to go to and refer friends to share memories and share stories," he said.

Edwardssaid sites like Everhereshould not divertpeople from more traditional obituary providers.

"It's taking away from the hub of where this information should be collected rather than a standalone site that really is only in it for money," he said.

"It could lead to a situation where families are feeling taken advantage of by for-profit websites."

Connections to Afterlife

The site bears a resemblance and has some of the same staff, including Leclerc to Afterlife, a site which closed down in January amid criticism it was running obituaries, without permission, in an attempt to sell merchandise.

Visitors to that site, Afterlife.co, are automatically redirected to Everhere.com. JordonLeBrun, formerly of Afterlife, also works at Everhere.

It is not clear who owns either domain because, according to internet records, they were registered through anonymizing services.

The federal government's corporate registry continues to list Afterlife Network Inc., orRseauAprsLa Vie Inc., as an active corporation based in Quebec City, with Leclerclisted as theonly director. There are no entries for Everherein the federal or Quebec registries.

Leclercdenies the twowebsitesare related.

"Everhereis not the successor [to Afterlife.co]. It's an entirely new company and business model," Leclercwrote in an email.

One criticofAfterlife is disappointed a similar site has appeared.

"It kind of feels like we failed," said AmyLavier, thePembroke, Ont.,woman who criticized Afterlifeafter it published her four-year-old son's obituarywithout her permission.

"To see it's happening again,it's just not right what they're doing," she said.

Where does the money go?

According to the Everheresite, if flowers are purchased on their site the order is passed on to local florists.

However, the site also includes information on an "affiliate program" that encourages people to add obituaries themselves. The program offers participants "10 per cent from flowers and 50 per cent from candles purchased through your shared obituaries."

Leclercsaid that moneyis allocated to funeral homes and newspapers.

"Through our Affiliate Program, funeral homes and newspapers receive shared revenues that can gotowardshelping families in need with their funeral costs," he wrote.

He said funding from the digital candles go toward operational costs.

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