P.E.I. funeral home offers burials at sea

A funeral home in eastern P.E.I. has partnered with a local fisherman to offer burials at sea, in which cremated remains are scattered on the water.

Dingwell Funeral Home director Nathaniel Lamoureux said he got the idea while having dinner with a friend, sitting looking over Souris Harbour.

"We were just commenting on how lucky we are to live here and what a beautiful island it is," said Lamoureux.

"We thought, how do we share this with Islanders and people from away to help them create a unique lasting memory for their loved one?"

Lamoureux said for people with the right connections he's sure that burials at sea are not uncommon, but he wanted to make them available for everyone.

He asked local fisherman J.J. Chaisson if he was interested in helping out. Chaisson told him it was something he had thought about before, but he didn't know how to go about it, and so a partnership was formed.

The funeral home offers three different services.

• An unattended service where he and Chaisson take the cremated remains out.
• A memorial service for up to 30 people on the boat and the scattering of the remains.
• The memorial service plus a lobster supper back on shore.

Lamoureux just started advertising the service last week. He said they have no bookings yet, but there has been a lot of interest.

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