More than a living memorial to past generations, Mount Pleasant Cemetery is one of the custodians of our country’s history. One of Canada’s most historic cemeteries, Mount Pleasant has served the Toronto community since 1876. It is the final resting place of many prominent Canadians, as varied as former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, Jennie Smillie-Robinson, Canada’s first female surgeon, popular Métis artist Youngfox, and pianist Glenn Gould.

For well over a century, the movers and the shakers, the famous and the infamous, the rich and the poor have made this cemetery their final resting place.

But history aside, Mount Pleasant is very much part of the fabric of Toronto today.  With this in mind, a special web site was created acknowledging that we are part of the neighbourhood.  Friends & Neighbours of Mount Pleasant has been designed to foster conversation and engagement between the cemetery and its neighbouring communities; just like neighbours, building positive relationships and strong community ties. Visit our web site to find out what’s happening at Mount Pleasant.

Over the years, Mount Pleasant has developed into a cemetery of great natural beauty, enhanced by a unique collection of artworks that continues to grow. In addition, the cemetery’s tree collection has grown into one of North America’s finest arboretums. Along with the abundant trees, large flower gardens, birds and other wildlife, contribute to the park-like setting.

Art abounds throughout the cemetery in sculptures and memorials created by gifted artists.

Mount Pleasant’s services and features include:

• A full range of interment choices providing for ground burial, cremation and mausoleum entombment;
• Mount Pleasant Mausoleum, with two chapels
  available for services or private reflection;
• Mount Pleasant Crematorium;
• Garden of Remembrance, the first in Ontario, created
  especially for those who choose cremation.

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Although it is a historic cemetery, a variety of ground-burial options are still available at Mount Pleasant. New burial spaces in various sizes and locations become available from time to time.

Increasingly chosen as an option in the commemorative
process, cremation is simply one method of preparing
remains for final disposition. Many who choose cremation
will also want a lasting memorial, and a place for family
and friends to go to pay tribute and remember. Often,
a columbarium, which is an arrangement of niches
containing cremation urns, is chosen as the final resting place.

At Mount Pleasant, cremated remains may be:

• Placed inside Mount Pleasant Mausoleum in glass-, marble- or bronze-fronted niches. Urns are visible in the glass-fronted niches, which may also contain a small personal memento. Inscriptions may be placed on the marble- or bronze-fronted niches;
• Placed outdoors in bronze- or granite-fronted niches throughout the extensive Mount Pleasant Garden of Remembrance;
• Interred in a grave, family lot or urn space;
• Scattered in one of the memorial scattering areas, among groundcover in an indigenous stand of oak trees or in one of the rose gardens.

Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries established Ontario’s first crematorium in 1933. Today, close to 50% of families and individuals in the Greater Toronto Area choose cremation, for many different reasons. Please contact us to discuss the wide variety of options and alternatives offered by Mount Pleasant Crematorium.

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This choice, which provides for above-ground burial indoors, involves placing a casket inside a crypt, which is then sealed.

Opened in 1920, Mount Pleasant Mausoleum is an imposing building with classic Georgian-style architecture. Its granite exterior is finished inside with finely detailed bronze, marble and fine woods. The mausoleum’s features include:

• Entombment rights, with marble-fronted crypts;
• Two chapels available for committal, funeral or memorial services (at a nominal fee) and for moments of private reflection;
• Columbariums with glass-, marble- or bronze-fronted niches;
• Crypts are available to accommodate one or two caskets;
• Crypt fronts are made of white Italian marble. Bronze lettering may be placed on the crypt front as a memorial to a life lived.

Opened in 1998, the Garden of Remembrance was created especially to provide those who choose cremation with a final resting place of great beauty. Located within Mount Pleasant, this cemetery within a cemetery is composed of five theme areas, each with distinct memorialization options that reflect its distinctive physical features.

• The Gateway of Hope leads you into the garden between granite-faced columbariums;
• The Eternal Gardens form a central walkway to the fountain, surrounded by flower planters and rose gardens. Cremation urns may be placed in the walls that form the gardens;
• The Pool of Reflection is the centrepiece of the Garden of Remembrance. Urns may be buried near the water’s edge or placed in niches along the spacious walkway that surrounds the pool;
• A bridge leads across the River of Memories, a tranquil stream with natural boulders placed along its course. Memorials may be placed on the bridge railing, and cremation urns buried at the base of the boulders;
• An existing stand of mature trees has been incorporated in the gardens as the Forest of Remembrance. Ashes may be buried and memorials placed within the forest;
• In addition, a glass-roofed conservatory, opened in 1999, offers numerous granite-fronted niches indoors and on its exterior pillars.

To learn more about the Garden of Remembrance and the options offered to those who choose cremation, please contact us. Our co-ordinators would be happy to take you through the garden and discuss the features in detail.