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Families looking for a place to scatter their loved one’s ashes in water will soon have a dedicated place to do it in Delta, B.C.
The city and provincial government announced plans Thursday for what they say will be a first-of-its-kind site along the Fraser River.
The City of Delta is upgrading parts of the Fraser Viewpoint on Tilbury Island with a new public park and a dedicated area for families to gather and disperse cremated remains.
“It means a lot to us, having a designated facility, place that you can come to scatter,” Parashar Malla, general secretary of the Hindu-Buddhist Foundation of Canada, told CBC News.
Dispersing remains in running water is a key tenet of several faiths.
While it is not illegal in B.C. to scatter ashes in a body of water or on Crown land, individual municipalities may have their own bylaws restricting the practice, according to Consumer Protection B.C.
Attorney General Niki Sharma said there has been confusion about regulations and the need for a dedicated, safe, legal place was clear.
“Community leaders have been saying for some time that they need to have a good spot to do that,” she said.
“I would hear stories about people that would go in the dead of the night because they thought it wasn’t allowed, and you can imagine when you are saying goodbye to your loved one how undignified that is.”
The City of Richmond hasn’t had a place to bury its dead or scatter their ashes, but that may change as the city considers a memorial garden.
The park is already home to a reflective garden and seating area, and the City of Delta is funding up to $225,000 to improve safe access to the river’s foreshore.
Mayor George Harvie said Delta has been working on making the site a reality since last year.
“This was actually something that was happening all the time anyway, but now we’ve made it secure, safe and more respectful place for people to pay their last respects to their loved ones,” he said.
Community members told CBC that the new site will help families avoid the expense of renting a boat, or even flying their loved one’s remains to their country of origin to scatter their ashes.
“It’s important that we have a sacred place to actually scatter ashes, until now, we don’t know where it is,” Malla said.
“Some people actually take it back to India or Nepal to scatter in holy rivers.”
Having a site in the Lower Mainland is important to Punjabi Sikhs for another reason, added Gagan Singh, spokesperson for the United Truckers Association.
“People have accepted the Fraser as our second home, so they have full belief and full faith that yes, they can say a final goodbye to their loved ones in this place,” he said.
In 2024, the City of Surrey announced plans for its own ash scattering pier on the Fraser River.
Sharma said the province has also released guidelines for other municipalities who are interested in creating a similar site.
