The Mount Patricia Cemetery Association unveiled its first-ever columbarium at the scenic graveyard last week.
The monument for holding urns of cremated remains marks another first for Mount Patricia Cemetery as the columbarium site is non-denominational, whereas the rest of the cemetery is divided into denominational plots.
Details of the new columbarium:
⁃ It is made of 100 per cent Canadian granite and has a significantly smaller carbon footprint than other models made with aluminum or concrete.
⁃ It measures 98.25 inches long, 40.74 inches wide and 66 inches high.
⁃ It features 48 niches, each designed to fit two standard-sized urns, with granite doors.
- There is a memory wall on each end of the columbarium.
The need for a columbarium
- The Mount Patricia Cemetery Association has seen a continual increase in the number of interments of cremains and a decrease in traditional burials over the past decade.
- The association is projecting interments to continue that trend and continue into the future at a rate of one to three per cent increase per year in cremation burials and a subsequent decrease in traditional burials by the same rate.
- According to trends and current research, by 2025 over 65 per cent of all interments at Mount Patricia will be for cremations by 2025 and less than 35 per cent will result in traditional burials.
- Because of these trends, the association anticipates having to erect a new columbarium every few years from now on.
Source: Mount Patricia Cemetery Association
