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Cemetery

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1. General: What are the cemetery hours of operation?

The gates of the Maple Ridge Cemetery will be open:

• Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Weekends and holidays (Spring/Summer) from 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM
• Weekends and holidays (Fall/Winter) from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
• Pedestrians may access the cemetery daily from 7:00 AM – 8:00 PM. No person may be in the cemetery between 8:00 PM and 7:00 AM without special permission of the Caretaker, Clerk or other person authorized by the City to grant such permission.
  
  

2. General: Is your office located at a cemetery?

Our office is not located at the cemetery. Our Cemetery Administrative Office is based at City Hall, 22470 Dewdney Trunk Road, Maple Ridge.  Office hours are 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday to Friday. If you wish to meet with the Cemetery Clerk, please call 604-467-7307 to book an appointment.

3. General: When is the Cemetery Caretaker on duty at the cemetery?

Our Cemetery Caretaker is on duty Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Periodically the Cemetery Caretaker is scheduled to work on a Saturday or Sunday if there is an interment.

4. General: Which cemeteries are owned and operated by the City of Maple Ridge?

The Maple Ridge Cemetery and Whonnock Cemetery are owned and operated by the City of Maple Ridge.

5. General: What does ‘Right of Interment’ mean, and what does it include?

The issuing of a Right of Interment does not entitle the holder to any title or interest in the land or lot, but instead provides for the right to inter the person(s) named on the Right of Interment.  The payment for a Right of Interment does not include fees for interment, liners, or other charges, and is subject in every way to the current Cemetery Bylaw and any other future Cemetery Bylaw.

6. General: What is the definition of “Resident”?

The definition of a resident is any person who:

• is a resident of the City on the date of the application for a Right of Interment; or
• a person who resided in the City at the time of death; or
• was a five (5) year resident of the City within eighteen (18) months preceding death; or
• owned real property in the City at the time of death; or
• owned real property in the City for more than ten (10) years at any time preceding death and can show proof of ownership.
  
  

7. General: Can I purchase a plot or niche and put it on reserve?

Adult full burial plots, in-ground Cremation plots, and single or double niches may be purchased “pre-need” and placed on reserve.  The Meadows South may only be purchased “at need” only.

8. General: What will a cemetery plot or niche cost?

Please refer to our current fee schedule.

9. General: Are the fees at both cemeteries the same?

The same cemetery fees apply to the Maple Ridge Cemetery and the Whonnock Cemetery.

10. General: Is there a limit to how long someone can be interred in a plot or niche?

Interments are held in perpetuity.  There is no limit to how long someone can be interred for.

11. General: What is the Perpetual Care Fund?

A portion of the price paid for the Right of Interment goes towards a maintenance care trust fund or perpetual care fund. Income from the care fund is used to provide regular care and maintenance at the cemetery in perpetuity. Regular care and maintenance activities can include: cutting grass, regrading of graves, planting and caring for trees and gardens, maintenance of water supply systems, roads, drainage, etc. The minimum amount to be contributed to the endowment care fund is governed by provincial law.

12. General: What guarantee do I have that Perpetual Care will take care of the cemetery?

Perpetual Care Funds in B.C. are protected by law and are very conservatively managed. Income from the fund can only be spent on care and maintenance of the cemetery.  The principal of a cemetery’s Care Fund is protected by provincial cemetery legislation.

13. General: Will the cemetery ever be used for something else?

In order to protect Interment Right Holders, strict provincial rules govern the use of cemetery lands. Graves are normally considered to be sold in perpetuity which restricts possible redevelopment.

14. General: How do I know if the marker I’ve ordered has been installed?

Unless the marker is installed at the time of interment, our Cemetery Clerk will contact the family after the marker is installed.

15. General: What steps do I take when a death has occurred?

When a death occurs, the person(s) with legal “control of disposition” will need to make arrangements through a Funeral Chapel or Crematorium.  Funeral Chapels and Crematoriums are the ones that generate the death certificate, and the death certificate is one of the documents the Cemetery Clerk will ask to see.  After visiting the Funeral Chapel or Crematorium, the person(s) with legal “control of disposition” will call the Cemetery Clerk to make an appointment.  While making the appointment, the Cemetery Clerk will ask the person(s) with legal “control of disposition” to provide the deceased person’s last known address, date of birth, place of birth (City), date of death, place of death (City), which funeral chapel or crematorium was used, what the urn is made of if it is a cremation, and executor(s)  information.  A Right of Interment (this may already exist), and an Interment Authorization will need to be completed and fees paid in full prior to interment. Please note that if there is more than one Executor listed in the deceased person’s Will, the Cemetery Clerk will need to meet with all Co-Executors.

16. General: What is “Control of Disposition” and who has it?

Control of Disposition means the right of a person to control the disposition of human remains or cremated remains in accordance with Section 5 of the Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act as follows:

Control of disposition of human remains or cremated remains

5  (1) Subject to this section and section 8 (3) (b) (i) [requirement for authorization before funeral services or disposition], the right of a person to control the disposition of the human remains or cremated remains vests in, and devolves on, the following persons in order of priority:

• (a) the personal representative named in the will of the deceased;
• (b) the spouse of the deceased;
• (c) an adult child of the deceased;
• (d) an adult grandchild of the deceased;
• (e) if the deceased was a minor, a person who was a guardian who had care and control of the deceased at the date of death;
• (f) a parent of the deceased;
• (g) an adult sibling of the deceased;
• (h) an adult nephew or niece of the deceased;
• (i) an adult next of kin of the deceased, determined on the basis provided by section 23 (5) of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act;
• (j) the minister under the Employment and Assistance Act, or if the Public Guardian and Trustee is administering the estate of the deceased under the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, the Public Guardian and Trustee;
• (k) an adult person having a personal or kinship relationship with the deceased, other than those referred to in paragraphs (b) to (d) and (f) to (i).

(2) If the person at the top of the order of priority set out in subsection (1) is unavailable or unwilling to give instructions, the right to give instructions passes to the person who is next in priority.

(3) If, under subsection (1), the right to control the disposition of human remains or cremated remains passes to persons of equal rank, the order of priority

• (a) is determined in accordance with an agreement between or among them, or
• (b) in the absence of an agreement referred to in paragraph (a), begins with the eldest of the persons and descends in order of age.

(4) A person claiming that he or she should be given the sole right to control the disposition of the human remains or cremated remains may apply to the Supreme Court for an order regarding that right.

(5) When hearing an application under subsection (4), the Supreme Court must have regard to the rights of all persons having an interest and, without limitation, give consideration to

• (a) the feelings of those related to, or associated with, the deceased, giving particular regard to the spouse of the deceased,
• (b) the rules, practice and beliefs respecting disposition of human remains and cremated remains followed or held by people of the religious faith of the deceased,
• (c) any reasonable directions given by the deceased respecting the disposition of his or her human remains or cremated remains, and
• (d) whether the dispute that is the subject of the application involves family hostility or a capricious change of mind respecting the disposition of the human remains or cremated remains.
• (6) Despite subsections (1) to (3), if the Supreme Court makes an order in favour of a person who has applied to it under subsection (4), that person is deemed to be at the top of the order of priority set out in subsection (1).
  
  

17. General: Can I pay Cemetery fees in advance or in installments?

All fees are paid in full at the time arrangements are made.  They cannot be paid in advance.

18. General: What are the regulations around artificial flowers or landscaping on a plot?

Artificial flowers may only be placed in a Cemetery between November 15 and March 15.  Cut flowers, wreaths and floral offerings placed on graves will be removed by the Cemetery Caretaker when their condition is considered by him to be detrimental to the beauty of the Cemetery.  No person will adorn or define a grave with a fence, hedge, railing, curbing, or landscaping.  Only authorized employees of the City of Maple Ridge can plan, remove, cut down, or destroy any trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, bulbs or rocks in the Cemetery.  Any unauthorized adornment or landscaping that is considered by the Caretaker to be untidy or unsafe will be removed by the Caretaker at his discretion.

19. Pre-planning: What can I plan in advance?

Only a Right of Interment can be arranged in advance. This is a one-time fee that includes the mandatory contribution to the Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund. Once purchased, the Right of Interment is not affected by fee increases.  Full Burial plots, in-ground cremation plots, and single or double niches may be purchased “pre-need” .  The Meadows South may only be purchased “at need”.

20. Pre-planning: What happens if I bought a plot or niche but don’t want it anymore?

A Right of Interment can be surrendered back to the City only. It cannot be sold privately. If less than 30 days have passed since the date of original issue, the full amount of the original fees paid will be returned by the City.  If more than 30 days have passed, a refund equal to the purchase price (less the Perpetual Care Fund contribution, taxes associated with the Right of Interment, and a transfer fee) will be issued back to the Interment Right Holder or designate.  Graves purchased more than 10 years prior to the Right of Interment cancellation date, will receive the equivalent of the purchase price 10 years prior to the cancellation date (less perpetual care, taxes associated with the Right of Interment, and a Transfer fee).

21. Pre-planning: How many plots or niches can I buy?

The Director of Parks & Facilities may refuse to sell a Right of Interment for more than two (2) graves or niches to any one individual.

22. Pre-planning: What future costs do I need to be aware of?

Depending on the type of interment, future costs could include the burial or interment fee, a full burial or cremation liner (if required), a full burial or cremation marker installation fee (also known as a marker permit fee), or a niche plate inscription fee, or a memorial plaque inscription fee.  An additional weekend interment fee is applicable for Saturday and Sunday interments.

23. Pre-planning: Do you do interments on Statutory Holidays?

Interments do not take place on Statutory Holidays or deferred Statutory Holidays.

24. Pre-Planning: What happens if I change my mind and want a different kind of plot or niche?

A Right of Interment for any unused plot or niche can be relocated to a different plot or niche; however, the Right Holder must first surrender the original Right of Interment to the City.  A refund equal to the purchase price (less the Perpetual Care Fund contribution, taxes associated with the Right of Interment, and a transfer fee) will be issued back to the Interment Right Holder or designate.  Graves purchased more than 10 years prior to the Right of Interment cancellation date, will receive the equivalent of the purchase price 10 years prior to the cancellation date, (less the Perpetual Care Fund contribution, taxes associated with the Right of Interment, and a transfer fee).  A new Right of Interment will then be generated using the current fee schedule and current residency status.

25. Pre-Planning: What information is required if I want to reserve a plot or niche in advance?

When a plot or niche is reserved in advance a Right of Interment will be issued that is signed by both the Rights Holder and the City. You will need to provide photo ID at the time of purchase. Proof of residency may also be required.

26. Pre-Planning: How do I know what grave spaces are available?

The status of available interment sites changes daily.  The Cemetery Clerk will be able to provide information on available interment sites.

27. Pre-Planning: What are the interment options?

For casket and in-ground cremation plots, we currently offer only single depth sites. For companions, the grave sites would be side-by-side. For a cremation interment there is a choice between an in-ground cremation plot, single or double columbaria, or the Meadows South garden.

28. Ground Burial: I have a full burial plot but my spouse wants to be cremated. Can we share the same plot?

Yes.  In the event that Cremated Remains are placed in a full burial Grave in advance of a Casket to be interred in the same Grave, the Cremated Remains will be removed by the Caretaker at the time of the full burial and be reinterred on top of the Casket at no cost during the Casket interment.

29. Ground Burial: How many cremated remains are permitted on a full burial lot?

Each full burial plot can accommodate one casket and a maximum of four sets of cremated remains.  In the event that there will never be a Casket interred, there is still only a maximum of four sets of cremation remains allowed.

30. Ground Burial: Do I have to purchase a liner and what are they made of?

A liner is required for a casket burial unless the casket is one made of metal.  Full burial liners are made of fiberglass.

31. Ground Burial: One of my ancestors has a plot or plots in the cemetery. How do I have future interments added to these plots?

In some cases, this can be a very complicated matter.  No one should assume that because they are related to the loved ones buried on a cemetery plot that they can automatically have their cremated remains interred with them.  If it is your loved one’s wish to have their cremated remains interred with a family member on a full burial plot, it is best to research whether it is possible before he or she pass away.

The first step is to verify who the Rights Holder of a plot is with the Cemetery Clerk.  A Rights Holder may make designations for his Grave(s) or Niche(s) during his lifetime.  However, where a Rights Holder dies and did not designate persons entitled to be interred in the Rights Holder’s Grave(s) or Niche(s), the City may give approval to an applicant who makes application to the City to receive the Rights Holder’s Right of Interment or permission for an interment on said Grave(s) or Niche(s), if the applicant provides, as exhibits to a statutory declaration made by the applicant, any of the following:  

i)    the Rights Holder’s will showing the applicant as the recipient of the Right of
      Interment; or

ii)   letters probate showing the applicant as the recipient of the Right of Interment  
      from the residue of the Rights Holder’s estate; or

iii)  letters of administration showing the applicant as the recipient of the part of
      the intestate Rights Holder’s estate that includes the Right of Interment.

 iv)  a statutory declaration from the Rights Holder’s spouse claiming Right of
       Interment entitlement.  In the absence of a spouse, a statutory declaration
       from all surviving lineal descendants of the Rights Holder claiming Right of
       Interment entitlement.

Provided that subsequent to the coming into force of Cemetery Bylaw 7612-2020 , each person who purchases a Right of Interment and thereby becomes a Rights Holder must, contemporaneously with the purchase of the Right of Interment, provide to the Clerk a list of family members (the “Named Family Members”) who may be interred in the remaining plots held by the Rights Holder. Following the death of the Rights Holder the “Named Family Members” collectively may transfer an empty Plot or Niche back to the City, transfer a plot or niche to a Relative, or list further permissions for interment.

32. Cremation: What documents do I need to take with me to the Cemetery at the time of interment?

Upon arriving at the cemetery for the interment, please stop by the Cemetery Office and report in to the Caretaker.  Please leave the cremated remains of your loved one in the car.  You will give the Cremation Certificate (or Certificate of Cremation) to the Caretaker.  This is a very important document, as the Caretaker will not be able to complete the interment without it.  The Caretaker will have a conversation with you about the interment, after which you will get back into your car and drive to the interment site.

33. Cremation: What type of service can I have for cremated remains?

The graveside service is a matter of family preference and can be treated the same as a casket interment. For cremated remains families have the option of placing the cremated remains themselves or having the Cemetery Caretaker assist.

34. Cremation: What are my options for placement of cremated remains?

Cremation options at the Maple Ridge Cemetery are an in-ground cremation plot, a single or double columbaria niche, a garden interment in the Meadows South, or interment on a full burial plot.

35. Cremation: What is commingling of cremated remains and is it allowed anywhere in the cemetery?

Commingling of cremated remains is the intentional and irreversible mixing of the cremated remains of more than one deceased person.
Yes, the commingling of two sets of cremated remains may be interred in the following areas of the Cemetery:

• between two side-by-side cremation Graves; or
• between two cremation Graves in The Meadows; or
• between two cremation Graves on a full burial Grave; or
• in a double Columbarium Niche.

The person(s) having control of disposition must acknowledge that the result of commingling is permanent and irreversible.  A Right of Interment must be issued for each of the deceased and fees paid indicative of two separate interments.  

36. Cremation: When is a cremation liner required and why?

A fiberglass cremation liner is required when the urn is either breakable or decomposable (i.e. cardboard, wood, ceramic or glass.  A cremation liner is not required when the urn is neither breakable nor decomposable (i.e. metal, plastic, stone, etc.)  The purpose of a liner is to protect the cremated remains.

37. Cremation: What is a columbarium?

A columbarium is a free-standing structure containing small compartments (niches) designed to hold urns containing cremated remains.  There are single niches and double niches at the Maple Ridge Cemetery.

38. Cremation: What is the inside dimensions of the niches?

The inside dimensions of a single niche is:  11”wide X 11”high X 11”deep.  The inside dimensions of a double niche is: 15” wide X 14”high X 12” deep.

39. Cremation: How many urns can go in a niche?

Each single niche can hold one set of cremated remains.  Each double niche compartment can hold two sets of cremated remains or the commingle remains of two people.

40. Cremation: Is there a special kind of urn that the cremated remains need to be in?

The urn needs to be a durable container that seals. Families are welcome to use something from home as long as it meets size requirements.

41. Cremation: How secure are the niches?

The exterior hardware is a patented security system that requires a unique tool to remove the granite shutter. Behind the granite shutter each niche is secured with its own powder coated aluminum, key locked inner privacy door.

42. Cremation: What type of memorial is used on the niches?

Each single or double Columbarium Niche plate is required to be consistent in layout, design and format as established by the City. The person(s) having control of disposition submit an order form to the Cemetery Clerk who soon afterward will provide a proof for approval.  Once the approval is received, the Cemetery Clerk will have the monument company engrave the niche plate.

43. Cremation: What are the rules around the columbaria?

All memorial markers and niche plates will only be installed by the Caretaker, and only after the cremated remains have been interred.  No person will affix any material to Columbarium face plates.

44. Cremation: Can my pet be cremated and buried with me?

Only cremated human remains may be interred at the cemetery.  Interment of cremated remains of pets is prohibited.

45. Cremation: I have loved ones interred in the old Rosegarden. Can additional cremated remains be interred at the old Rosegarden?

Unfortunately the old Rosegarden has been full since July 2014.  No future interments will take place at this site. There is a memorial plaque at the old Rosegarden.  You can arrange for the name of your deceased loved to be inscribed on the Memorial Plaque.  Inscriptions are done in January for the prior year.

 
The same type of interment as the old Rosegarden takes place in the Meadows South, which is located in the southeast section of the Maple Ridge Cemetery by the Columbaria.  

46. Memorialization: How do I know if the marker I’ve ordered has been installed?

Unless the marker is installed at the time of interment, our Cemetery Clerk will contact the family after the marker is installed.

47. Memorialization: What is a marker installation fee?

A marker installation fee is also known as a marker placement fee, setting fee or marker permit.  Markers are laid by the Cemetery Caretaker only.  When the marker arrives to the cemetery it is put into a concrete mold.  Once the concrete hardens, the marker is placed on to the grave providing the interment has taken place.  This fee covers the setting and laying of the marker.

48. Memorialization: How do I have a vase installed with the marker?

If you wish a vase to be installed into the concrete rim of the marker, you need to order a vase from the monument company at the same time that you order the marker.  When the marker and vase arrive to the cemetery together, this informs the Cemetery Caretaker that he needs to adjust the marker within the mold to leave more room at the top for the vase.

49. Memorialization: What size and type of marker can I have on a plot? How many markers can we have on one plot?

Please refer to our Cemetery Marker & Monument Regulations Guide and our Cemetery Marker & Monument Regulations for Section 6 Guide.

50. Memorialization: I would like to put a marker on our plot for someone who is not buried in the cemetery. Can this be done?

Markers may only be laid for those loved ones already interred in the cemetery.  You may memorialized a loved one by having their name engraved on the Rosegarden Memorial Plaque at the entrance way to the Maple Ridge Cemetery.

51. Locating a Loved One: How do I search for my loved one in your cemetery? Can I get a map of the cemetery?

Please contact our Cemetery Clerk at 604-467-7307 for the plot location of your loved one or view the  Maple Ridge Cemetery map.

52. Locating a Loved One: Do you have records for all burials in Maple Ridge?

Cemetery operations are required to keep permanent record of those interred in their cemeteries. Municipalities are only responsible for burial records in the cemeteries owned and operated by them.