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What Do Cities Owe to their Dead? Urban Cemeteries In Toronto Are Running Out of Space to Bury the Dead

There is a lack of cemetery land in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). More broadly, structures of city planning which do exist, do not adequately take account of the racial, religious, cultural, class differences and changing cultural practices of memorialization among the city’s population in urban cemeteries. Municipal city planning in Toronto has yet to address, how to equitably spatially plan for death in Toronto by designating the required zoning for cemetery land use in Official and Secondary Plans. Given the amendments in the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS), as part of the PPS review in 2014, the need to plan for cemeteries was addressed in language but not in full practice. Where, in part of the new PPS, released last year, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) added the word “cemeteries” to policy 1.1.1 b), the list of institutional uses that should be considered by planning authorities, to better recognize planning for all life stages:

“Healthy, liveable and safe communities are sustained by:
b) accommodating an appropriate range and mix of residential (including second units, affordable housing and housing for older persons), employment (including industrial and commercial), institutional (including places of worship, cemeteries and long-term care homes),recreation, park and open space, and other uses to meet long-term needs”.

However, with recent amendments to the PPS 2014, the City of Toronto has yet to implement planning for cemetery use in community planning or development applications through its Official Plan and Zoning By-Laws, given the diversity of Toronto. At the same time, Council which represent 44 Wards in Toronto do not make recommendations for cemetery land use given the religious and cultural diversity and changing cultural needs of memorialization of communities located in the 44 Wards which make up the City of Toronto. Death it seems is an equity issue which urgently needs to be addressed in planning and policy –with respect to equity, diversity and inclusiveness.

Wednesday, August 26th, 2015
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About Me

I'm Nicole N. Hanson (MES; Pl.), a cultural urban planner who links planning for vibrant communities, with planning for the full life cycle of cities: where we can live, work, play and die. I posses expert knowledge and experience in guiding cultural policy and development initiatives for cities in Ontario. Spatially Planning For Death In Cities' is my areas of specialization. This blog is a place where I share ideas on cultural planning, the creative economy, cemetery planning, urban evolution, the archaeology of performance and urban memory as an art of storytelling in cities.

Press Releases

York Region Official Plan Review: Cemetery Needs Analysis 2015

My Role: Stakeholder Focus Group - Contributes expert knowledge about York Region's future planning policies for siting new cemeteries based on research in urban and regional planning on 'Spatially Planning For Death In Cities'. On a provincial level, I contributed to the dialogue based my role as LRO at the Cemeteries and Crematoriums Regulation Unit; Ministry of Government & Consumer Services.

Spatially Planning For Death in Cities - 100 in 1 Day Toronto 2015

The Canadian Association of Planning Students ‐ L’Association Canadienne des Étudiants en Aménagement et Urbanisme (CAPS‐ACÉAU)

Research informing Policy- Provincial Policy Statement, Official Plans & Secondary Plans and Social Development Policy:

Spatially Planning For Death in Toronto; Planning Urban Cemeteries in Municipal City Planning in Ontario- Major Research Paper (MRP)
Magisteriate of Environmental Studies; Urban & Regional Planning York University [Requested Upon Consultation]

Literature: Urban Spatial Theory

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