Funeral Co-operatives
Funerals are a billion-dollar industry in Canada. The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) found the average cost of a funeral service grew from $665 in 1972 to $6,325 in 2004.
Possible benefits for members of a funeral co-op include:
- Access to funeral and memorial services at the best possible price,
- Application of membership fee to the member’s funeral costs,
- Education and assistance with pre-planning of memorial services.
“A funeral cooperative is an association of persons who organize to meet their needs by means of a funeral enterprise. The members are the collective owners of the cooperative. Power is exercised democratically by the general meeting of members and the elected administrators.”
– Quebec Federation of Funeral Co-ops
- Funeral co-ops first formed in Canada in 1947. They have flourished in Quebec and PEI and are slowly getting established in other provinces.
- Quebec is home to 30 funeral co-ops with over 140,000 members.
- Prince Edward Island had the first funeral co-op in the Maritimes. The West Prince Funeral Co-operative began in 1985. There are now seven funeral co-ops in the province.
- Quebec co-op members paid 40-per-cent less for funerals in 2000 compared with non-members, according to the Canadian Co-operatives Association.
- Funerals are a billion-dollar industry in Canada. The Canadian Co-operatives Association found the average cost of a funeral service grew from $665 in 1972 to $6,325 in 2004
Additional Funeral Co-op Resources:
- Annie Normandin, Cooperative development advisor for the Federation of Funeral Cooperatives of Quebec, has kindly sent us her notes from the Funeral Co-op presentation she gave on February 18th, 2009. You can download the pdf here: Funeral Co-op presentation
- In addition, local media co-operative Each For All: The Co-operative Connection created an episode featuring interviews with Jeannette Miller of the Prairie Lily Funeral Co-op in Regina, Barbara Crosby of the Island Funeral Co-op Association on Prince Edward Island, and John Eric Rolfstad from the Seattle-based People’s Memorial Funeral Cooperative as well as the People’s Memorial Association. For more information, and to listen to the show, visit eachforall.org
- Websites of interest: