The unsettling discovery of 56 unclaimed bodies at the Cumuto Cemetery on Saturday has sparked growing concerns about unethical and unregulated practices within the Trinidad and Tobago funeral industry.
CEO of Dennie’s Funeral Home Limited and Crematorium, Cochese Tyler Dennie, said that all burials should be carried out in keeping with the Burial Grounds Act of Trinidad and Tobago, which requires proper documentation and regulatory oversight.
“That cemetery keeper has to get necessary paperwork such as death certificates for each individual hat has to be buried, and then the cemetery would then inform the Corporation and the Corporation would then assign slots to where each person will be buried, and as you would see in the Burial Act, there are rules and regulations in that Act that will govern how much persons can be buried in one grave, whether it be family members, the depth of the grave that must be followed, so clearly those procedures may not have transpired or those procedures may not have been followed.”
Mr. Dennie added that the President of the Professional Funeral Association of Trinidad and Tobago has been advocating for stronger systems and regulatory frameworks governing funeral homes to ensure that burials are conducted in a dignified manner.
“Once a funeral home is entrusted with anyone, with any person, with any loved one, with any remains, that funeral home is responsible for proper care, maintaining and making sure that they have proper documentation, ensuring that dignity is preserved, and to ensure that all lawful and regulated things and regulated arrangements are carried out at the highest standard.”