Newfoundland and Labrador doubles funeral benefits after unclaimed bodies pile up

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has more than doubled the financial assistance it offers low-income residents who need to pay for a burial or a cremation.

The move comes after intense scrutiny as the number of unclaimed bodies in freezers at the province’s largest hospital more than doubled between November 2021 and January of this year.

The province announced Monday it will now offer up to $5,000 for a funeral, and up to $1,500 for additional expenses.

It says it will also cover the air transportation costs to repatriate remains to and from remote coastal communities.

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Emails obtained by the provincial New Democrat Party show health officials discussed on Jan. 9 their efforts to find “stacking” refrigeration units as 27 unclaimed bodies lay at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s, N.L.

John Anderson, director at Caul’s Funeral Home in St. John’s, says he believes the bodies likely belong to people whose low-income loved ones couldn’t get enough government help to pay for a funeral.