The Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries is a non-profit statutory public trust that owns and operates 10 cemeteries, 9 funeral centres, 4 crematoria and 14 mausoleums across the Greater Toronto Area. It was founded in 1855 as the Toronto General Burying Grounds Trust and later became Toronto Trust Cemeteries, and then Commemorative Services of Ontario before adopting its current name of the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries in 1998.[1][2][3] By 2023, the Trust owned 1,400 acres of land and had assets of nearly $1.3 billion including a $581-million perpetual trust fund designated for the long-term maintenance of its cemeteries.[3][4]
In the early 19th century, the only authorized cemeteries within the town of York (predecessor to present-day Toronto) were limited to members of either the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church. Deceased citizens who did not belong to either of these Christian denominations had to find burial arrangements outside of the city.[1]
In response to a petition to the Legislative Council of Upper Canada calling for the establishment of a non-sectarian cemetery as a general burying ground, a statute named An act to authorize certain persons therein named, and their successors, to hold certain lands for the purpose therein mentioned was passed and received Royal Assent in 1826: Acts of U.C. 7 Geo. IV, c. 21.[5] Funds were raised through one dollar donations from 300 members of the public[6][3] and the land that came to be known as the "Potters Field" was acquired outside of the then-city limits of Bloor Street adjacent to what became the village of Yorkville, and started operation as a cemetery soon afterwards. Over time, additional cemetery lands were added to what became the Toronto General Burying Ground. As the village of Yorkville grew, villages petitioned the province to close the cemetery and relocate the graves to another location. In 1855, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada passed an act establishing the Toronto General Burying Grounds Trust with a mandate to close Potter's Field and move the remains elsewhere.[1] The Trust became responsible for the Toronto Necropolis, north of what is now Cabbagetown, on the west bank of the Don River, which had been opened in 1850s by a private syndicate. Most of the remains from Potter's Field were re-interred there in a section called "The Resting Place of the Pioneers".[7][1]
As the city and demand for burial places grew, the Trust decided to acquire land for an additional cemetery and in 1873 purchased a 200-acre plot of land east of Yonge Street in the Township of York, north of the then-city limits of Toronto. The mew burial ground was opened in 1876 as Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The remaining graves and markers of the original Potter's Field were subsequently transferred to the new cemetery.[1]
As Toronto expanded through the twentieth century, the Trust acquired additional properties for cemeteries in Toronto and its surrounding area.
Legal status and disputes
Until the 1990s, provincial law barred cemeteries from operating funeral homes, and vice versa. After the law changed, the Trust established "A Simple Alternative" as a funeral home subsidiary and began operating funeral centres on its cemeteries and in three off-cemetery funeral chapels in Mississauga, Toronto, and Pickering, competing directly with private funeral homes.[6]
The Mount Pleasant Group has been criticized for operating as a private non-profit organization rather than a public trust, and not disclosing its financial records or being accountable to the public.[6] In 2013, a groups of citizens organized as Friends of Toronto Public Cemeteries sued Mount Pleasant Group in the Superior Court of Ontario requesting that the court reaffirm its status as a public trust, including requiring trustees to be elected publicly, and also asked the government to exercise supervisory jurisdiction.[4] Private funeral homes also intervened in the court case arguing that Mount Pleasant Group had misused its status to become dominant in the funeral industry in the region.[3] In 2018, Justice Sean Dunphy ruled that “Absent a subsequent statute that explicitly or by necessary implication terminated the perpetual statutory trust created in 1826, that trust continues to this day,”[3] and that Mount Pleasant Group's seven directors be re-named trustees and that a public meeting be organized at which residents could confirm the trustees or elect a new slate. The court also ruled that Mount Pleasant Group had overstepped trust rules by opening visitation centres and funeral homes.[8][9] Mount Pleasant Group appealed the ruling to the Ontario Court of Appeal,[9] which overturned much of the lower court's decision in 2020.[10] The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a further appeal, leading the residents group to vow to seek a legislative remedy.[11]
Includes a funeral reception centre, cremation centre, cremation scattering and interment, and natural burial options. Also operates a section for pet burials.
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