‘ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT OPTIONS’
Funeral Service Association of Canada meeting in Charlottetown includes wide range of innovative products on display
Funeral Service Association of Canada meeting in Charlottetown includes wide range of innovative products on display
Someone in Canada could spend eternity in a coffin that celebrates Canada’s 150th anniversary.
It was one of the items on display Wednesday at the Funeral Service Association of Canada’s (FSAC) annual convention, being held this week in Charlottetown.
The coffin, emblazoned with the Canadian flag inside and out, was manufactured by Northern Casket, a funeral company based out of Lindsay, Ont., which now has a warehouse in Moncton, N.B.
“It’s a one-off, it won’t be in our production line, completely special,’’ said Caley Ferguson, president of Northern Casket. “It’s one of those gimmicky things that draws people into our booth.’’
While he doubts anyone will ever get buried in it, it’s being auctioned off and it will be up to the winning funeral home as to what ends up happening to it.
“It’s going to take a real specific family to buy this.’’
Also on display at Wednesday’s trade show was jewelry designed to carry around a person’s cremated loved one.
“There are manufacturers here that create jewelry specific for a keepsake for cremated remains so no one else would know their family member is with them, but they (themselves) know that,’’ said Jeff Weafer, manager of the Regina Funeral Home and Cemetery and a member of the association’s board of directors.
“There are also manufacturers that will create diamonds out of cremated remains.’’
Technology can also replicate the fingerprints of a loved one onto picture frames, for example, and transfer DNA into a stylish pendant.
There are also interactive headstones available, containing genealogical data, photographs and biographies.
Some people can choose personalized caskets so loved ones and others can write in personal messages.
There are also choices for those looking for green options, caskets made of wood, cardboard, wicker or bamboo.
“Families are looking for all kinds of different options these days,’’ Weafer said.
Also at the trade show was an automatic defribrillator, perhaps an odd thing to see at a trade show focused on the afterlife.
Weafer said they are important devices for funeral homes to have, recounting a story of an elderly woman who arrived at a funeral and suffered a fatal heart attack.
“It’s a very stressful event for people.’’
It was also interesting to note in talking to various funeral managers that cremation rates have increased dramatically over the years.
In the 1960s, cremations accounted for fewer than five per cent of all Canadian ddeaths.
By 1990, it was up to about one-third. In 2011, nearly 60 per cent of deaths in Canada resulted in cremation.
In the western provinces, rates are over 90 per cent while they drop to about 30 per cent in Prince Edward Island.
By 2019, the Cremation Association of North America’s projections show three out of four Canadians will choose cremation for their loved ones.
“Families are looking for all kinds of different options these days.” Jeff Weafer