An Ottawa woman whose grandmother bought a cemetery plot in Aylmer a century ago can't understand why the corporation that manages Gatineau's Roman Catholic graveyards wants her to pay for a new 99-year lease.Mavis Lacoste, 59, still has a copy of the $15 receipt her grandmother, Margaret Bourgeau, was given after buying a plot in Saint-Paul Cemetery on Aylmer Road for her husband who died in 1908.
In 1977, the Catholic diocese of Aylmer, Hull and Gatineau set up a separate non-profit corporation, Les Jardins du Souvenir, to manage its cemeteries and to reduce costs.
At the time, Mrs. Lacoste's mother received a letter from a representative of Adolphe Proulx, then bishop of Hull, informing her that the corporation was assuming control of the Saint-Paul and Saint-Rédempteur cemeteries.
"Nothing will be changed in your rights and privileges; it is only the management that is transferred," the letter promised.
But last month, the corporation billed Mrs. Lacoste $2,531.76 for the "renewal cost for the concession and for long-term maintenance" for 99 years.
"Nobody ever told us that the plot would have to be leased for 99 years," Mrs. Lacoste said. "My mother paid $175 for perpetual maintenance in 1976.
"There are six members of our family buried in that cemetery, including my mother and father. I thought that our family would own the plot forever and there would be no further costs."
Mrs. Lacoste doesn't want to pay the bill, but is worried the cemetery corporation will bury the bodies of her ancestors elsewhere and lease the plot to someone else.
The issue first came to public notice in January 2007 when retired Ottawa roofer Gary Blake received a letter from Les Jardins du Souvenir demanding payment for a 99-year lease on a plot bought in 1892 by his great-grandfather, William Blake.
Unless Mr. Blake paid $1,694, the letter threatened to dispose of the headstones and grave contents of his family's burial plot in "any manner it considers appropriate" at the family's expense.
The letter said the corporation could repossess "any lot, whether or not it is occupied by bodies, monuments, cinerary urns, flat markers, slant markers, crypts, columbaria or other distinctive signs ... for failure to renew the contract when it expires."
Repeated telephone calls this week to Roger Gagnon, director of Les Jardins du Souvenir, were not answered.
In 2007, Mr. Gagnon conceded the letter to Mr. Blake was "a little rude," but explained plots would be used for new burials when needed in about 50 years if lease payments were not made.
He said the headstones could eventually be stored and the bodies buried deeper so new graves closer to the surface could be leased to people willing to pay.
Louise LaRivière, 74, granddaughter of former Hull mayor Louis Cousineau, said she avoided paying for a 99-year lease on a plot bought by her grandfather at Saint-Rédempteur Cemetery in 1934 because she has a receipt showing perpetual rights.
University of Ottawa law professor Michel Drapeau said amendments to Quebec law mean people must rent rather than buy plots.
"I was able to argue that one client owned a plot because of the contract she had," Mr. Drapeau said.
"It took me five years and ultimately I had to go to Notre Dame parish in downtown Montreal, which was the original owner of the cemetery in Hull."
Mr. Drapeau said people with contracts proving they own plots should not have to pay renewal fees.
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