'I’ve never seen the site so badly kept': Cemetery workers say staff cuts behind unkempt state
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.