In Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier is mostly on the run, with his desk in his backpack, looking for fascinating topics and people. In this city chronicle he speaks to everyone and is interested in all areas of life.
Hundreds of coffins, stacked seven stories high, are lined up in front of me. I am in the “restoir” of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery, a huge “refrigerator” where the deceased awaiting burial are collected. That’s been the case since a partially resolved labor dispute delayed funerals, causing the torture of waiting for thousands of bereaved families.
I have the privilege of visiting this inaccessible place throughout the year of conflict.
It is very cold.
This residue is not a refrigerator, but a freezer: minus 16 degrees Celsius.
My neck tenses.
“Watch out for the ice spots on the ground,” warns me Alain Dussault, operations manager at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery.
Of the currently around 380 residents of this morgue, which has been converted into a waiting room, some have been waiting here since January last year.
These deaths move me less than the thought of the thousands of survivors who are still alive and waiting to bury their dead.
These wooden boxes contain mothers, fathers, children, lovers, etc.
The cemetery allowed me to visit this place on one condition: no photos.
Ironically, I’m here because photos were taken secretly.
A source sent it to me to show the reality of this refrigerated mass grave with the dead piled up to the ceiling.
To say that there is a “cluster” of 400 coffins awaiting burial is abstract.
The image allows you to understand what it represents. And my visit too…
cruelty
“Does it seem normal to you that hundreds of dead people would pile up like this in a warehouse? These are people, dead, but people… and there are people still alive who are suffering, it’s absolutely disgusting,” said Paul Caghassi, founder of the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Departed. and families from Notre-Dame-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery.
“A funeral that doesn’t take place for months is a wound that can’t heal, it’s cruel to force this on families.”
According to Mr. Caghassi, this huge warehouse, built in the event of an epidemic, was intended to serve exclusively its original purpose.
“This cooled mass grave must be used in the event of an epidemic, in winter when digging is impossible or when the family would prefer to wait until it is less cold. But there it is used as a weapon by companies and unions.”
“Both parties in this story are to blame and we were held hostage by both!”
Mr. Caghassi did not provide me with the photos and was reluctant to support their publication.
“I at least hope that these pictures make people, especially politicians, understand the full extent of the scandal that is happening here!” This must end immediately. And it can’t happen again.”
Paul Caghassi, the founder of the Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Deceased and Families of the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery. Louis Philippe Messier
The conflict continues
The cemetery reopened its gates to visitors last week. Burials had already resumed a few weeks earlier. The exceptional overcrowding at the recreation center doesn’t seem to be letting up at the moment…One of the reasons: Even though the workers are back, the employees have been on strike for a year…which is slowing down operations.
“There is organizational chaos, burials are being carried out slowly, the crowding situation will not improve, no matter what the cemetery says,” claims Éric Dufault, chairman of the workers’ union.
“In two weeks we will reach full travel speed when all our workers have finished cleaning the area and can work on the burials,” replies cemetery spokesman Michel Saint-Amour.
“We will be able to bury up to 60 coffins a week,” adds Mr. Dussault.
Both parties claim that the delay will be made up by December.
This dispute between parties that are currently negotiating heatedly is driving Paul Caghassi to despair:
“I know these people and they are nice, but they are stuck in their teachings. You defend the employees. The other defends the church. And no one bothers.”
He demands that employees return to work immediately during negotiations.
Will this abnormal accumulation of deaths to the ceiling continue for long? Will it happen again in the future?
“The collective agreement for workers ends in 2027 and there could be another pile-up,” fears Mr Caghassi.
Photo of the main camp, taken secretly at the end of August. Anonymous source
When the number of coffins exceeded 400, the use of a secondary repository began at the end of August. Anonymous source