Funerary Practices in Canada

    I was born and raised in Mainland China, so I don't really know that much about Canadian burial rituals. But as much as I know, Canada is a country full of diversities and different cultures.
I googled "modern funerary practices in Canada", and the only approprite answer to this blog topic is natural burial, which Dr. McGuire mentioned during one of our lectures.
    According to Wikipedia, natural burial is "a process by which the body of a deceased person is interred in the soil in a manner that does not inhibit decomposition and allows the body to recycle naturally. It is seen as an alternative to contemporary Western burial methods" .
    In Canada, there is an association called Natural Burial Association (NBA). This NBA is "an independent, non-profit organization established to help reduce the environmental impacts of conventional death care practices through education and awareness, and to leverage the sustained popularity of burial towards the acquisition, renewal and permanent protection of Canada’s natural lands for the benefit of people and the environment" (Wikipedia_Natural Burial).
    Depends on what religion an individual used to believe before death, his or her burial ritual might be very different. For instance, for people who believe in Bahá'í Faith, cremation is forbidden, and the deceased must be buried one-hour-drive away from where they die. Hindus prefer to hold the funeral before sunset on the day of death, and the oldest son will be in charge of the funeral with the company of Hindu priest. Cremation is also acceptable in Hindu religion, and the cremated remains of the deceased are usually taken back to India to be scattered in the Ganges River, or another method of final disposition may be chosen. (If you're interested in looking into more details about other religions' funerary practices, here's the site where I found the above information: click)

Hindu funeral_image credit

    I come from Nothern part of China where cremation is usually practiced, though I'm pretty sure that inhumation was once a more common burial ritual. Remaining bones of the deceased was very important to the Chinese, and it was believed that the spirit of the deceased would be attached to the body and bones for a period of time before he or she crossed over and went onto a new life cycle. I'm not sure if this was the case for every part of China, as the country is also multicultural-- 56 ethnic groups live there.

    Considering Canada has a large number of Chinese descendants, many traditional Chinese burial rituals might also be practiced.