Town passes updated cemetery bylaw

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Following several years of back-and-forth debates and revisions, the Town of Strathmore has passed its updated cemetery bylaw, coming into compliance with provincial language and legislation.

The current edition of the bylaw received all three readings during the April 15 meeting of council. 

The latter two readings included a last-minute amendment brought forward by Coun. Richard Wegener, which details that the town is to maintain a field of honour section of the cemetery for the burial of veterans, Canadian Armed Forces members having served or retired, and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

“It is just actually getting that on the bylaw rather than somebody having to go back and check Veterans Affairs Canada to make sure that they are underneath that RCMP office,” said Wegener. “Our RCMP staff are covered under Veterans Affairs Canada.”

According to information made available through Veterans Affairs Canada, serving and retired members of the RCMP fall under their classifications in terms of burial rites.

The attention raised by Wegener was to add a layer of redundancy and have the town’s bylaw reflect similar information. This will also provide more local clarity to the next of kin of officers who pass away instead of being required to navigate Veterans Affairs Canada.

Prior to this update, it has been 12 years since the document had last received attention by the town.

Municipal staff worked with the previous town council to develop a draft of the bylaw between October 2023 and September 2024, which due to a host of debates, complaints, and revisions, was never passed.

The new bylaw now incorporates several changes which were required in order to achieve compliance with the current edition of the Cemeteries Act and associated regulations.

Previously, language and regulations throughout the old cemetery bylaw provided several operational challenges to town staff in terms of upkeep and safety on the site.

These largely referred to instances of broken glass, unkept plots, insufficient room to work, and working around decorations left by members of the public.

In addition to amending policies for town staff, the bylaw also details rules and regulations regarding the decoration and maintenance of plots by members of the public for the deceased. 

As of September 2024, when the bylaw was last discussed by the previous council, administration had noted at the time that maintenance and operations of the local cemetery lacked several points of efficiency, and was not financially sustainable.

It was noted during the April 8 meeting that 2,052 people are currently interred in Strathmore’s local cemetery, with grounds maintenance costs averaging between $40,000 and $50,000 on any given year.