Majority of Iqalummiut can't afford burial expenses, says funeral director

Iqaluit's only funeral director says he has $350,000 inunpaid invoices for burials dating back to 2013.

Jaffar Gebarahandles about a body a week and says the costs of most burialsare never paid.

He estimates that of50 deaths a year, 30 families are on their own to cover his $6,000 fee per burial,and mostcannot afford it.

The rest are covered under medical travel, income assistanceor work health benefits plans.However,Gebara said thatin the case of work benefits, he isoften forgotten by the time the paperwork is filled out and the money comes in.

Gebarais paid by the city to maintain both graveyards in town and dig the graves, so his $6,000 fee, he said, is about half for the casket and the other half is split between transportation, corpsepreparation and administration.

He said he flies the caskets up by air cargo one at a time because he doesn't havespace to store them. His business operates out of a home office and the morgue at the Qikiqtani General Hospital.

'I can't keep providing a service'

But the business is not doing well. Last year, Gebarasaid, he closed his clothing store, Qikiqtani Outfitting,after he poured all the resources from it into the funeral home business.

"I'm at zero now. If there's no income coming in,I can't keep providing a service. I don't know how to say it, but my back's up against a wall now.There's no more resources for me to use. I'm done."

In 2009, when he started learning the business from the city's first undertaker, Bryan Pearson,all burials were covered by the territorial government.But the government has since stopped paying for them.

• 'I made a life here:' Iqaluit's first mayor, and curmudgeon-in-chief, dead at 82

In communities, compassionate committees have come together to help bury the deadat minimal or no cost tofamilies, but Iqaluit is different.

Gebara saidpeople were shocked when he started asking them for money for his service.

"It's the most awful thing I've had to do in my life, and challenging, to ask someone who's crying who's lost a loved one ... to say I'm sorry for your loss but give me money ... it's really hard on everyone," he said.

"We're all behind. We're all strugglingand trying to survive, and to try to come up with a large amount of money during avery emotional time is not easy for anyone."

He saidfuneral homes in other parts of Canada can hold onto a body for months until clients pay, but he doesn't have that option. Gebarawants to see a full-service funeral home in town.Gebaratried to take out loans to build a funeral home,but never found the funding.

There is only storage for three bodies in the hospital's morgue and for health reasons, bodies should only stay in the morgue between threeand sevendays.

Last month, though, a series of blizzards kept an Iqaluit man's body in the morgue for three weeks.Lucien JuniorUkkalianuk, 46,was eventually buried, but his family hasn't paidthebill.

Family feels weight of unpaid bill

Ukkalianukwas employed, buthis family saidhe did not qualify for benefits, so they are on the hook for his burial fees.

With his salary, Lucien Ukkalianuk supported his mother,TheresieUkkalianuk, as well as his niece, Natasha Ukkalianuk, and her son.

Natasha Ukkalianuk said she often sees families running 50/50 draws on Facebook to raise money to bury a deceased family member, but she didn't run one.

"It's really a struggle, and I didn't want to go public because it's a family situation," shesaid.

It's also against the law.

Community and Government Services, the territorial department responsible for managing lotteries, saidprivate citizens cannot legally raise money this way only religious and charitable organizations with a licence are permitted to run a lottery.

The family can apply for the CanadaPension Plan death benefit, which was recently set at a standard $2,500, but that won't cover the full bill.

• Flat-rate CPP death benefit panned as insufficient to cover funeral costs
• Lottery licence? Food permit? No problem. Mom won't give up fundraising to finish university

The Qikiqtani Inuit Association will pay for flights fortwo family members to attend a funeral, but it will not cover burialcosts.

The organizationhas a$600,000 annual bereavementbudget program funded by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. This year, 148 Inuit took advantage of the program.

Gebara saidhe doesn't think he will be able to continue burying bodies, unless Nunavut Tunngavikstarts helping with funeral costsor the city declares him an essential service.

ForTheresieUkkalianuk,being unable to pay for the burial of her son is a challenge on top of the grief.

"The feeling of carrying him in my amauti when he was a child, that same feeling of the weight, I am burdened again, as if I am carrying him again and my back is so tense," shesaid.