'I’ve never seen the site so badly kept': Cemetery workers say staff cuts behind unkempt state

MONTREAL -

Fallen tombstones lie on the ground at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery, many covered with overgrown grass -- and even garbage.

Ezra Mackay, a mechanic at the cemetery, says the administration is telling clients it's the workers' fault.

“They were told by the office," he said

Last year, the cemetery cut 23 jobs, all of which were related to site maintenance.

Patrick Chartrand, a groundskeeper, says the union has been fighting ever since to have them rehired.

“I’ve never seen the site so badly kept since [the] 28 years that I’ve been working here," he said.

Cemetery staff took CTV News on a tour of the grounds, pointing out conditions they deem unacceptable, including buildings held up with wooden poles and garbage bins overflowing from visitors who have had to clean up their own loved ones' graves.

Staff also pointed to hundreds of groundhog holes marked with sticks.

“Groundhogs have always been here, but normally we have enough people that we can take care of the problem," said Mackay.

When the pandemic hit, the cemetery cut its hours of operation, including keeping the gates locked on Sundays.

After a year of complaints and demonstrations by grieving families, the cemetery is now open on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. -- but no new staff have been hired.

Chartrand says the cemetery's solution isn't acceptable.

“They put us everywhere so we’re late on many jobs. They move us around which is not allowed with our contract, but they do it.”

Staff have been out of a contract for nearly two years.

CTV has put in several requests for comment from the cemetery over the past two months, but all have gone unanswered.