Cemetery By‐laws As per Funeral, Burial, Cremation Services Act
2002 (FBCSA) and enacted July 1, 2012 by Ontario Regulation 30/11
Ontario License #3275524
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section B: BY‐LAWS PERTAINING TO GENERAL INFORMATION
Section C: BY‐LAWS FOR THE CANCELLATION OR RESALE OF INTERMENT RIGHTS
Section D: BY‐LAWS PERTAINING TO BURIAL OR SCATTERING OF CREMATED REMAINS
Section E: BY‐LAWS PERTAINING TO MEMORIALIZATION
Section F: BY‐LAWS PERTAINING TO CARE AND PLANTING
Section G: BY‐LAWS OUTLING ITEMS THAT ARE PROHIBITED AND PERMITTED
Section H: CONTRACTOR/MONUMENT DEALER BYLAWS
Section I: BY‐LAWS FOR COLUMBARIA
These by‐laws are the rules and regulations that govern Christ Church Flamborough Cemetery and have been approved by the Registrar of Cemeteries, FBCSA, Cemeteries Regulations Unit, Ministry of Consumer Services.
A: DEFINITIONS
Burial: The opening and closing of an inground lot or plot for the disposition of human remains or cremated human remains.
By‐laws: The rules and regulations under which the Cemetery operates.
Care and Maintenance Fund: It is a requirement under the FBCSA that a percentage of the purchase price of all Interment Rights, and set amounts for marker and monument installations is contributed into the Care and Maintenance Fund. Interest earned from this fund is used to provide care and maintenance of plots, lots, markers and monuments at the Cemetery.
Contract: For purposes of these by‐laws, all purchasers of interment rights must sign a contract with the cemetery, detailing obligations of both parties and acceptance of the cemetery by‐laws.
Corner Posts: Shall mean any stone or other land markers set flush with the surface of the ground and used to indicate the location of a lot or plot.
Grave: (Also known as Lot) means any inground burial space intended for the interment of a child, adult or cremated human remains.
Interment Right: The right to require or direct the interment of human remains or cremated human remains in a grave, lot or niche and direct the associated memorialization.
Interment Rights Certificate: The document issued by the Cemetery to the purchaser once the interment rights have been paid in full, identifying ownership of the interment rights.
Interment Rights Holder: Any person designated to hold the right to inter human remains in a specified lot.
Lot: For the purposes of these By‐Laws a lot is a single grave space.
Marker: Shall mean any permanent memorial structure that is set flush and level with the ground, and used to mark the location of a burial lot.
Monument: Any permanent memorial projecting above the ground installed within the designated space to mark the location of a burial or lot.
Niche: An individual compartment in a columbarium for the entombment of cremated human remains.
Plot: For the purposes of these by‐laws, a plot is a parcel of land, sold as a single unit, containing multiple lots.
Scattering: Shall mean the act of spreading of cremated remains over a designated area within a cemetery with the knowledge and permission of the cemetery operator and in keeping with the cemetery’s by‐laws.
Scattering Rights Holder: Any person designated to hold the right to scatter cremated human remains in a specified lot or other designated area within the cemetery.
B. BYLAWS PERTAINING TO GENERAL INFORMATION
Operator:
Christ Church Flamborough Cemetery shall be operated by a Cemetery Board. Members shall be elected from the congregation of Christ Church Flamborough at the annual Vestry meeting. Cemetery Board members shall elect a Chair, Secretary and Superintendent from their members. The Rector and/or Churchwardens may be ex-officio members. Three members including at least one of the Chair, Secretary or Superintendent shall constitute a quorum.
The Cemetery shall be administered in accordance with the Christian Faith and with the regulations, rites and ceremonies of the Anglican Church of Canada.
Christ Church Flamborough Cemetery is maintained for the use of parishioners and Anglican Clergy only and no person who is not such may purchase a plot therein except with the unanimous consent of the Cemetery Board.
Purchasers of scattering rights or interment rights to niche in a columbarium are not required to be members of Christ Church Flamborough.
Hours of Operation:
Visitation Hours: 8:00 am until Dusk
Office Hours: By appointment
Burial Hours: By appointment
General Conduct:
The cemetery reserves full control over the cemetery operations and management of land within the cemetery grounds.
No person may damage, destroy, remove or deface any property within the Cemetery.
All visitors should conduct themselves in a quiet manner that shall not disturb any service being held.
By Law Amendments:
The cemetery shall be governed by these bylaws, and all procedures will comply with the Funeral Burial & Cremation Services Act, 2002 and Ontario Regulation 30/11, which may be amended periodically.
All by‐law amendments must be:
a) published once in a newspaper with general circulation in the locality in which the cemetery is located;
b) conspicuously posted on a sign at the entrance of the cemetery; and
c) delivered to each supplier of markers who has delivered a marker to the cemetery during the previous year, if the by‐law or by‐law amendment pertains to markers or their installation.
All by‐laws and by‐law amendments are subject to the approval of the Registrar, Cemeteries Regulation Unit, Ministry of Consumer Services.
Liability:
The cemetery operator will not be held liable for any loss or damage, without limitation (including damage by the elements, Acts of God, or vandals) to, any lot, plot, columbarium niche, mausoleum crypt, monument, marker, or other article that has been placed in relation to an interment or scattering right save and except for direct loss or damage caused by gross negligence of the cemetery.
Public Register:
Provincial legislation – Section 110 of Ontario Regulation 30/11 requires all cemeteries and crematoriums to maintain a public register that is available to the public during regular office hours.
Pets or Other Animals:
Pets or other lower animals, including cremated animal remains, are not allowed to be buried on cemetery grounds.
Right to Re‐Survey:
The Cemetery has the right at any time to re‐survey, enlarge, diminish, re‐plot, change or remove plantings, grade, close pathways or roads, alter in shape or size, or otherwise change all or any part of the cemetery, subject to approval of the appropriate authorities.
Notice of Resale and Transfer of Interment or Scattering Rights:
The cemetery operator prohibits the resale of interment or scattering rights to a third party and will repurchase these rights at the price listed on the current price list. Transfers of interment or scattering rights cannot be prohibited as long as the purchaser meets the qualifications and requirements as outlined in the cemetery operator’s by‐laws.
The cemetery operator prohibits the resale of interment rights to a third party and is not required to repurchase unused interment rights in a plot (more than one lot) if one of the interment rights in the plot has been exercised.
The cemetery operator prohibits the resale of scattering rights to a third party and is not required to repurchase unused scattering rights in a scattering ground if other scattering interment rights in the same scattering ground have been exercised.
C. BY‐LAWS FOR THE CANCELLATION OR RESALE OF INTERMENT RIGHTS
Purchasers of interment or scattering rights acquire only the right to direct the burial of human remains and the scattering of cremated human remains, and the installation of monuments, markers and inscriptions, subject to the conditions set out in the cemetery by‐laws. In accordance with cemetery by‐laws, no burial, entombment, scattering, or installation of any monument, marker, inscription, or memorialization is permitted until the interment rights have been paid in full. An interment rights certificate will be issued to the interment rights holder(s) when payment has been made in full. The purchase of interment rights is not a purchase of Real Estate or real property. An interment rights holder wishing to resell their interment rights must contact the cemetery operator.
Cancellation of Interment Rights within 30 Day Cooling‐Off Period:
A purchaser has the right to cancel an interment or scattering rights contract within thirty (30) days of signing the interment or scattering rights contract, by providing written notice of the cancellation to the cemetery operator. The cemetery operator will refund all monies paid by the purchaser within thirty (30) days from the date of the request for cancellation.
Cancellation of Interment or Scattering Rights after the 30 Day Cooling‐Off Period:
Upon receiving written notice from the purchaser of the interment or scattering rights, the cemetery operator will cancel the contract and issue a refund to the purchaser for the amount paid for the interment or scattering rights less the appropriate amount that is required to be deposited into the Care and Maintenance Fund. This refund will be made within thirty (30) days of receiving said notice. If the interment rights certificate has been issued to the interment rights holder(s), the certificate must be returned to the cemetery operator along with the written notice of cancellation.
If any portion of the interment or scattering rights has been exercised, the purchaser, or the interment rights holder(s) are not entitled to cancel the contract or re‐sell the interment or scattering rights.
Resale of Interment or Scattering Rights after 30 Day Cooling‐Off Period:
Unless the interment or scattering rights have been exercised the purchaser retains the right to cancel the contract or re‐sell the interment or scattering rights. Once payment for the interment or scattering rights has been made in full, and an interment rights certificate has been issued, the interment or scattering rights holder(s), as recorded on the cemetery records, has right to re‐sell the interment rights.
Any resale of the interment right shall be in accordance with the requirements of the cemetery by‐laws and in keeping with the FBCSA.
If any portion of the interment or scattering rights has been exercised, the purchaser, or the interment rights holder(s) are not entitled to re‐sell the interment or scattering rights.
D. BYLAWS PERTAINING TO BURIAL OR SCATTERING OF CREMATED REMAINS
Interment or scattering rights holder(s) must provide written authorization prior to a burial, scattering, or an entombment taking place. Should the interment or scattering rights holder be deceased, authorization must be provided in writing by the person authorized to act on behalf of the interment rights holder i.e. Personal Representative, Estate Trustee, Executor or next of kin.
A burial permit issued by the Registrar General or equivalent document showing that the death has been registered with the province must be provided to the cemetery office prior to a burial, scattering or entombment taking place. A Certificate of Cremation must be submitted to the cemetery office prior to the burial of cremated remains or scattering of cremated remains taking place.
In accordance with the FBCSA the purchaser of interment or scattering rights must enter into a cemetery contract, providing such information as may be required by the cemetery operator for the completion of the contract and the public register prior to each burial or entombment of human remains, or each scattering of cremated human remains.
Payment must be made to the cemetery before a burial can place.
The cemetery shall be given at least 3 full calendar days of notice for each burial of human remains or scattering of cremated human remains.
The opening and closing of graves, crypts and niches or the scattering of cremated remains may ONLY be conducted by cemetery staff or those designated to do work on behalf of the cemetery.
Cremated remains may be scattered within a designated area of the cemetery.
Cremated remains are not permitted to be scattered on a grave.
A scattering rights contract must be completed and the payment of the scattering fee must be received before the scattering of cremated human remains can take place.
Once scattered, cremated remains cannot be retrieved.
Human remains may be disinterred from a lot provided that the written consent (authorization) of the interment rights holder has been received by the cemetery operator and the prior notification of the medical officer of health. A certificate from the local medical officer of health must be received at the cemetery office before the removal of casketed human remains may take place. A certificate from the local medical officer of health is not required for the removal of cremated remains.
In special circumstances the removal of human remains may also be ordered by certain public officials without the consent of the interment rights holder and/or next of kin(s).
Each grave shall be 3.5 feet by 10 feet and may be used for one casket interment and no more than three cremated remains interments.
Each cremation lot shall be 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet and may be used for no more than four cremated remains interments.
E. BYLAWS PERTAINING TO MEMORIALIZATION
No memorial or other structure shall be erected or permitted on a lot until all charges have been paid in full.
No monument, footstone, marker or memorial of any description shall be placed, moved, altered, or removed without permission from the cemetery operator.
Minor scraping of the monument base of an upright monument due to grass/lawn maintenance is considered to be normal wear.
The cemetery operator will take reasonable precautions to protect the property of interment rights holders, but it assumes no liability for the loss of, or damage to, any monument, marker, or other structure, or part thereof.
The cemetery operator reserves the right to determine the maximum size of monuments, their number and their location on each lot or plot. They must not be of a size that would interfere with any future interments.
All foundations for monuments and markers shall be built by, or contracted to be built for, the cemetery operator at the expense of the interment rights holder.
Should any monument or marker present a risk to public safety because it has become unstable, the cemetery operator shall do whatever it deems necessary by way of repairing, resetting, or laying down the monument or marker or any other remedy so as to remove the risk.
The cemetery operator reserves the right to remove at its sole discretion any marker, monument, or inscription which is not in keeping with the dignity and decorum of the cemetery as determined by the Board.
A monument, private mausoleum, or other structure shall be erected only after the specific design plans have been approved by the cemetery operator including: dimensions, material of structure, construction details, and proposed location.
In keeping with the cemetery by‐laws only one monument shall be erected within the designated space on any lot.
The minimum thickness for flat markers including footstones is 4 inches or 10 cm.
All monuments and markers shall be constructed of bronze or natural stone (i.e. granite).
No monument shall be delivered to the cemetery for installation until the monument foundation has been completed, and the interment rights holder(s) and/or marker retailer have been notified by the cemetery operator.
Markers and footstones of bronze or granite are permitted with size and quantity restrictions according to cemetery by‐laws and the placement of such memorials shall not interfere with future interments.
Single lot maximum: 3 feet wide including base, 4 feet above ground including base and centred in the area of the lot designated for markers.
Double lot maximum: 4 feet wide including base, 4 feet above ground including base and centred in the area of the lot designated for markers.
Cremation lot maximum: (flat marker only) maximum 3 feet wide including base, 4 inches above ground including base and centred in the area of the lot designated for markers.
“Footstones”, flush to the ground and not exceeding 1 foot wide and 1 foot square, may be placed on a lot or plot to designate a cremation burial but shall not interfere with future interments.
F. BYLAWS PERTAINING TO CARE AND PLANTING
A portion of the price of interment or scattering rights is trusted into the Care and Maintenance Fund.
The income generated from this fund is used to maintain, secure and preserve the cemetery grounds.
Services that can be provided through this fund include:
Re‐leveling and sodding or seeding of Lots or scattering grounds.
Maintenance of cemetery roads, sewers and water systems.
Maintenance of perimeter walls and fences.
Maintenance of cemetery landscaping.
Maintenance of mausoleum and columbarium.
Repairs and general upkeep of cemetery maintenance buildings and equipment
No person other than cemetery staff shall remove any sod or in any other way change the surface of the burial lot in the cemetery.
No person shall plant trees, flower beds or shrubs in the cemetery except with the approval of the cemetery.
Flowers placed on a grave for a funeral shall be removed by the cemetery staff after a reasonable time to protect the sod and maintain the tidy appearance of the cemetery.
G. BYLAWS OUTLINING ITEMS THAT ARE PROHIBITED AND PERMITTED
The cemetery reserves the right to regulate and/or remove without notice articles or things placed on lots or plots that it deems, in its sole discretion, to pose a threat to; the safety of all interment rights holders, visitors to the cemetery and cemetery employees, prevents the cemetery from performing general cemetery operations, or are not in keeping with the respect and dignity of the cemetery. Prohibited articles will be removed and disposed of without notification.
The cemetery reserves the right to disallow or remove quantities of memorial wreaths or flowers considered to be excessive and that diminishes the otherwise tidy appearance of the cemetery.
Memorial wreaths may be placed in the cemetery only after the first of November. In order to prepare the grounds for spring, wreaths must be removed prior to the first of April. Wreaths not removed by the first of April will be removed and disposed of by the Cemetery without notification.
H. CONTRACTOR/MONUMENT DEALER BYLAWS
Any contract work to be performed within the cemetery requires the written pre‐approval of the interment rights holder and the cemetery operator before the work may begin. Pre‐approval includes but is not limited to: landscaping, delivery of monuments and markers, inscriptions, designs, drawings, plans and detailed specifications relating to the work, proof of all applicable government approvals and permits, the location of the work to be performed. It is the responsibility of all contractors to report to the Church office and provide the necessary approvals before commencing work at any location on the cemetery property.
All cemetery by‐laws apply to all contractors and all work carried out by contractors within the cemetery grounds.
Contractors, monument dealers and suppliers shall not enter the cemetery in the evening, weekends or statutory holidays, unless approval has been granted by the cemetery operator.
No work will be performed at the cemetery except during the regular business hours of the cemetery.
Contractors shall temporarily cease all operations if they are working within 100 meters of a funeral until the conclusion of the service. The cemetery reserves the right to temporarily cease contractor operations at their sole discretion if the noise of the work being performed by the contractor is deemed to be a disturbance to any funeral or public gathering within the cemetery or Church.
Contractors, monument dealers and suppliers shall lay wooden planks on the burial lots and paths over which heavy materials are to be moved in order to protect the surface from damage.
I. COLUMBARIUM BYLAWS
Payment must be made to the cemetery operator before an interment may take place.
Only the cemetery operator may open and seal niches for interments. This applies to the inside sealer and the niche front.
To ensure quality control, desired uniformity and standard of workmanship, the cemetery reserves the right to inscribe all niche fronts or install all lettering, vases, adornments, or any other approved attachment.
No person other than cemetery staff shall remove or alter niche fronts.