Gates to the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery remain closed – Montreal | 24CA News
After briefly opening to the general public on the finish of March, the gates to the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery are closed as soon as once more with no clear signal of reopening resulting from an ongoing labour dispute.
A current devastating ice storm prompted important injury to lots of of bushes, making the cemetery too harmful for the general public, in accordance with cemetery officers.
“Despite our work to repair the damages and clean the site, many of the cemetery’s 33 kilometres of roads are still blocked by trees and branches that present a significant danger to visitor,” mentioned Daniel Granger spokesperson for the cemetery.
“In addition, several branches, broken by the ice, threaten to fall at any time, posing additional risks to visitors. We are truly saddened by this situation.”
While the ice storm was, April 6, two weeks in the past, efforts to wash the positioning are usually not doable because of the ongoing labour dispute.
Maintenance staff have been on strike since January. In that point, no floor burials have taken place. Only mausoleum burials and cremations have continued.
“If we went back tomorrow, it would take at least a month with full staff working outside to clear all the roads, cut down the branches, and get the graves ready for all of the deceased that are in the freezer right now,” mentioned Caroline Dube, spokesperson for the employees union.
Dube estimates near 200 lifeless are ready to be buried.
Talks between administration and the union appear to be at a stalemate. The most important sticking level, in accordance with the union, stays job safety and employees cuts.
“Money is not the biggest issue for us. The issue is we’re not enough staff to serve the people adequately. We’re not enough people to do the job and make the cemetery as beautiful as it was 20 years ago,” Dube mentioned.
In an announcement to Global News, officers representing the cemetery mentioned: “We have invited, via the conciliator, the union representing our operating employees to accept a truce in their strike to make the site safe to allow the families of the deceased to return. Unfortunately, our proposal was declined by the union.”
“It looks like a bomb was dropped,” Michael Musacchio mentioned. “There are branches everywhere. Trees are down. It’s going to take a long time to clean this up.”
Musacchio mentioned he visits the cemetery frequently along with his household and has to pay his respects to his misplaced daughter. He mentioned he and different households really feel unfairly trapped within the dispute and has been preventing for higher entry to the positioning for years.
“Let us in and figure it out. We should not be held hostage,” Musacchio mentioned.
Cemetery officers mentioned they’d reopen the positioning as quickly because it’s deemed protected. Until then, the gates will stay closed to the general public.
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