Info & Guides

DeathCaring Collective – In the educational component of our monthly meetings, we learned about natural burial and community-led death care. Committees were formed, and these options are now offered on Cortes Island. 

Community-Led DeathCare – This is a group of volunteers who are ready, even on short notice, to provide practical and emotional support to those approaching or navigating death. In the past, communities cared for their own at death, simply & naturally. Death was a part of life, and death care was shared by friends and neighbours. You have friends and neighbours who are knowledgeable, willing and able to lend helping hands. Link to Community-Led Deathcare for more information.

Natural Burial – there is a section in the Whaletown Cemetery and Manson’s Landing Cemetery designated for natural (green) burial. As simply and naturally as possible, the body is returned to the earth, and the earth returned to nature. The non-embalmed body is clothed or wrapped in biodegradable material and optionally placed in a locally sourced biodegradable box. The area above the grave is marked with a biodegradable marker, and the surface covered with vegetative materials and native plants. Those buried in this section, rather than having an individual tombstone, are commemorated in a communal memorialization structure (which has yet to be built). Whaletown Community Club volunteers manage burial in the Whaletown Cemetery, and the Southern Cortes Community Association (SCCA) burial in the Manson’s Landing Cemetery. To arrange a burial, natural or conventional; in Whaletown call Noah Davidson (250) 935-6745 or Margaret Verschuur (250) 204-3709; in Manson’s call Ann Dewar (250) 935-6316. 

Articles in Cortes Tideline – Every two weeks or so an educational article is posted in the Cortes Tideline about death, dying, or grief written by a community member.

For a list of articles, select the “Cortes Tideline Articles” category in the list to the right.