Scattering cremated human remains in river raises Grand questions

Cambridge city council was recently faced with an interesting and challenging decision when it was asked to support allowing cremated human remains to be scattered in the Grand River.

From a physical point of view, cremated remains are relatively benign, slightly alkaline, and mostly calcium phosphate and trace elements of what the bones accumulated in a lifetime.

The intense prolonged heat in a fire cremation reduces the body to about two kilograms, or four to six pounds, of a white to dark grey sandlike material and bone fragments. Some is light enough to scatter in the wind; some heavier and will fall to the ground. Cast in the water, some will float, and some will sink to the bottom.

Although the request came from our Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist population, the Cremation Association of North America reports that almost 75 per cent of Canadians choose cremation. Those remains have to go somewhere.

Legally, Ontario allows the scattering of cremated remains on unoccupied Crown land and Crown land covered by water, in designated areas in cemeteries, in provincial parks and conservation areas, and on private property with permission. But they can only be legally buried in cemeteries. The Bereavement Authority of Ontario has an excellent guide to all the dos and don'ts.

If you're not scattering cremated remains, you can keep them at home in an urn, in a columbarium, launch them into space, mix them with concrete in a mould to create artificial reefs in the ocean, or turn them into any number of memorial pieces and keepsakes, including jewels.

The timeless tradition for the majority Hindu population in India is to scatter the cremated remains in the Ganges River after a riverside cremation on a wood pyre. But that practice has taken a heavy environmental toll, both from the use of wood and on water quality.

We have come to a stage where if we don't come up with a solution for dealing with the dead, we are going to affect the survival of the living," said the director of Mokshda, a non-profit group in New Delhi working on more environmentally friendly options.

Traditions, beliefs and rituals die hard, but are not unchangeable. The Catholic faith didn't allow cremation until 1963. Jewish and Muslim traditions both require a simple burial within 24 hours of death, but the Reform branch of Judaism now allows cremation, and the Muslim faith allows burial at sea if the death occurs at sea. Hindus in Ontario are cremated in a crematorium, not an open wood pyre. They can, however, return their ashes to be cast in the Ganges.

But the Grand is not the Ganges and the population in Waterloo Region identifying as Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh is relatively small, so should we be concerned about 675 pounds of cremated remains going into the river every year?

For math fans, my calculations based on Waterloo Region and StatsCan data are: Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists make up 3.1 per cent of Waterloo Region's population of 624,000 - about 19,344. The annual death rate in 2019 (pre-COVID-19) was 7.4 per 1,000 people. The cremated remains of 135 bodies, averaging five pounds each, equal 675 pounds.

This figure, however, does not include everyone else who may want to use the Grand River as a final resting place.

I have lost some very significant loved ones in recent years, so I greatly appreciate the traditions and rituals that hold us together when someone dies. But, as an environmentalist, I also see the death by a thousand cuts" of our Grand River.

We have industrial and sewage spills, salt, agricultural run-off of fertilizers and pesticides, and record levels of artificial sweeteners that pass through our bodies and wastewater treatment system into the river. And from this river comes 20 per cent of our drinking water.

We have to remember that we are also living upstream from other communities that draw water from the Grand.

One of the best qualities of humans is our ability to adapt. Cemeteries, such as Oakville's Trafalgar Lawn Cemetery, allow cremated remains to be scattered on-site in a pond if water is the desired or required end point for earthly remains. The City of Cambridge, as well as Kitchener and Waterloo, would do well to provide that option.

Susan Koswan is a University of Waterloo graduate with a sustainable business management certificate from Conestoga College.