1. I have heard that the Mount Pleasant Cemetery is extremely expensive. How can ordinary people afford graves for casket burial these days?
MPG offers a range of price points to meet the financial resources, or limitations, of our diverse clientele across our 10 cemeteries in the GTA.
The prices for interment rights (i.e. the right to be buried in a particular location) are significantly lower at our newer cemeteries in the “905” region than at our older, more established properties in Toronto itself. For instance, to buy a small plot at our Thornton Cemetery in Oshawa could be almost 90% less expensive than to buy the same size plot at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in midtown Toronto. Prices also range according to the size of the plot, the form of memorialization chosen and the suite of services purchased. Detailed price lists for all of our sites are available here.
2. How expensive are funerals these days?
It all depends on the choices clients make.
The funeral professionals in our affiliated company, Canadian Memorial Services, work closely with families and friends of those who have died to customize funerals to their preferences and budgets. As of April 2025, the average cost of a funeral arrangement was $6,700. Some cost significantly less than this amount, and some cost significantly more.
3. What is the Mount Pleasant Group doing to make its services more budget-friendly?
We are reviewing our prices to make more services accessible to more people.
We recognize that the costs associated with cemetery interment, cremations and funeral services can be daunting for many people. We are committed to identifying death care-related options that are within reach for a broad range of individuals and families.
For example, in 2023, we reduced the price of our rental caskets by as much as 60%. These are high-quality wooden casket shells into which a simpler box containing the deceased is inserted for a visitation or funeral service and removed before cremation. We have recently seen demand for rental caskets increase by 124%. Similarly, in March 2024, we announced a 30% reduction in the price of “simple cremation.” That service involves the simple collection and cremation of a deceased individual and the return of their cremated remains to their next of kin.
4. What about people who live in poverty and are unable to pay for even the lowest-priced options at MPG sites?
In Ontario, there is a system in place to support the families of the deceased in these situations. Cemetery and funeral operators in Ontario are compensated by municipalities at below-market rates to provide cemetery and funeral services to recipients of social assistance programs such as Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). The families of the deceased are never billed. We are pleased to participate in this program. Over the last five years alone, on an annual basis, we have performed just under 1,000 “assisted burials.” This number represents roughly 15% of our casket burials.