These advocates are calling for more natural burial options in northeastern Ontario

When Andrea Welz dies, she says she would like a natural burial.

That's when a person does away with a lot of the frills that come with a typical burial. There's no embalming, burial vault, and sometimes there's not even a casket.

Instead, the body is placed in a simple wooden boxor a burial shroud until the natural environment breaks it down.

"It was something easy that I could do towardthe climate crisis and it's a pretty simple decision," Welz said about her preference for a natural burial.

Welz says even cremation isn't free of environmental impact because of the energy used to incinerate a body. After a body is cremated, the ashes are also acidic.

Welz is a member of a group in Sault Ste, Marie, Ont., called Clean North that advocates for more natural burial options in the region.

The gold standard for natural burial advocates would be a natural-burial-only graveyard that follows specific guidelines and is allowed to grow wild.

Lack of options

There are a few cemeteries in northeastern Ontario that have sections dedicated to natural burials, especially to accommodate certain religious groups, such as Muslims. But there are no graveyards that only do natural burials.

For many Muslims, a simple burial is very important. Islamic law says bodies should only be wrapped in a shroud and not be treated with preservatives.

Abdel Ati Bettah, the director on the board of the Northern Muslim Association, says not having access to natural burials is a burden for families, and the whole Muslim community in northeastern Ontario.

"Right now we're having to ship our deceased ones," he said.

"We're talking tens of thousands of dollars when it comes to this and transporting our loved ones in a box away from the city that they chose as their home just adds more and more stress to their loved ones. This is a major issue that comes up quite regularly in his community."

Bettah says some deceased members of the Muslim community in northeastern Ontario are transported to cemeteries in Toronto, Ottawa, and even Quebec so they can have a natural burial.

Natural burial advocate Sheila Campbell, who lives onSt. JosephIsland, outside Sault Ste. Marie, says provincial care and maintenance requirements are a burden on cemetery operators that would like to have natural burials.

High maintenance fees

Operators were required to have a $100,000 fund for future care and maintenance, but that increased to $165,000 in 2022. The amount is higher than in any other province in Canada.

"It's unfair because the maintenance costs of running a natural burial site are so much less than in a normal burial site, because the whole idea is that you're letting the land go back to a natural state," Campbell said.

Campbell argues those fees are an obstacle that prevent more natural burial cemeteries from starting in Ontario.

In Sault Ste. Marie, the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery is planning to open a new natural burial area within the next year.

Sister Sharon Miller, from North Bay, Ont., was an early natural burials advocate in the region.

She says her group isn't as active as it once was, but she would like a natural burial for herself at the very least.

"I would encourage each person to decide how they would like to be presented in their dead self," she said.