Toronto’s cemeteries are running out of space. Why some are selling their burial plots online - Toronto Star

A rapidly aging population and a dwindling supply of burial plots could mean online resellers would be able to offload their plot in no time.

Pam Bartholomew is selling a burial plot on Kijiji after moving from the GTA to Aylmer, Ont. Her posting has been online for more than three months, but has seen little interest.

Every other day, Pam Bartholomew checks her Kijiji account to see if she has any bidders. Time and time again, she’s left frustrated with an empty inbox.

Bartholomew is one of hundreds of resellers across Canada on the online marketplace site selling an unusual item: burial plots.

After moving away from the GTA to Aylmer to retire, Bartholomew, 67, said she doesn’t have a need for the plot she and her late husband bought in Brampton in 1984 for $800. He is buried in Aylmer, and she plans to be as well.

But shedding the unused plot — now worth around $8,000 — hasn’t been easy, she said, even though she’s listed it for just $4,500.

“I’m not out there to gouge anybody,” said Bartholomew. “I just want it sold. I want it out of my book saying it’s done with. I need it sold before I go.”

Ontario’s population is aging — fast. There are nearly 400,000 people in the province who are 85 years old or older. That number could rise to more than one million by 2050, according to Statistics Canada. At the same time, Toronto’s cemeteries are running out of space, and it can cost up to $80,000 in some cemeteries to secure a resting spot. 

Right now, there are 90 Kijiji listings for burial plots in Ontario, some as low as $200 while others are listed for over $40,000. Many of these listings have been on the site for over a month.

Some would assume that a rapidly aging population paired with a dwindling supply of burial plots would mean Kijiji sellers would be able to offload their plots in no time. For resellers who spoke to the Star, that hasn’t been the case.

Pam Bartholomew, of Aylmer, Ont., says she’s facing difficulty selling a Brampton cemetery plot she bought in 1984, despite listing the space on Kijiji for roughly half of its market rate.

This difficulty, said Brock University professor Tek Thongpapanl, may be because people might not trust online marketplaces, individual resellers or both.

Though reselling plots and interment rights is legal under specific conditions — the cemetery must allow resale and the spaces cannot be sold for more than what they’re worth, according to the Bereavement Authority of Ontario — people might also feel uncomfortable buying their final resting place online, said Thongpapanl. He added that cemetery plots are different from other products sold online because of their ties to death, culture and personal beliefs.

“Some people may appreciate the opportunity to purchase burial rights at more affordable prices, while others may feel uncomfortable seeing cemetery plots advertised and negotiated like other second-hand products,” he said.

Even if listings are more affordable than buying directly from a cemetery, paying a large sum in cash can pose an issue to some buyers. 

Ann-Marie Marchildon-Fletcher, of Toronto, has experienced this first-hand. She’s selling a double plot in Thornhill, first purchased by her parents in the ‘70s for her and her brother.

But now, moves to other cities and marriage have made the plots inconvenient for the siblings.

“My husband’s family actually has a plot that’s outside of Toronto, and at this point in time, I’m thinking of rather being buried there.”

Despite posting the plot on the online marketplace over 15 months ago, Marchildon-Fletcher has gotten close to selling just once.

“It turns out that they were just not comfortable with a cash transaction that size,” said Marchildon-Fletcher, who is selling her plot for $5,500. “I’m not a business, so this is the only thing I can really do.”

Toronto isn’t the only city experiencing a shortage of burial plots. Erik Lees, a professional planner and a founding principal of Lees and Associates, said this “crisis” is pervasive across North America because cemeteries aren’t included in urban planning conversations.

“We pay attention to schools and employment lands and industrial lands and residential and urban places, but we have not included cemeteries in the scope of the planning services that are applied to urban centres.

“Planners generally don’t want to talk about it. Politicians don’t want to talk about it. The general population is blissfully unaware of the crisis that’s looming,” he said.

That’s because people are “generally death averse in our society,” he said, adding that good urban planning can work around this. Planners should shift their thinking when it comes to cemeteries to make them dual-use spaces, such as parks, said Lees.

“It’s one of the only places, short of churches and synagogues and temples and so on that is devoted to the purpose of remembering our loved ones, both individually and collectively,” he said. “It’s really important that we have these places embedded in and near to where we live.”

Being buried close to where living loved ones reside is often in mind when people are shopping for their plots, said Nathan Johnson, a director with cemetery operator Mount Pleasant Group. 

“A large percentage of families that are looking to purchase cemetery lands want to do it close to (their) home,” he said, adding his organization sees steady demand for plots across its cemeteries. Older urban cemeteries have finite land, added Johnson, noting some places have more inventory than others depending on demand and proximity to the city.

Bartholomew isn’t just frustrated her plot isn’t selling. She said she’s upset people don’t know they can turn to online marketplaces to find plots, adding this knowledge could save people time and money.

She likened buying a plot to shopping for a used car, saying she hopes cheaper alternatives could be offered to buyers by cemeteries if they can’t afford the market rate.

“They should have a choice and be told where they can make their choices,” she said. “I wish somebody had told me that.”

Iman Janmohamed is a staff reporter with the Toronto Star. Reach her at ijanmohamed@thestar.ca.