The Quebec coroner’s office has launched an investigation after a video circulating online showed a funeral transporter employee inappropriately handling a dead body.
The video, without sound, shows a man on a long second-floor balcony in Quebec City grabbing a white body bag by one end and dragging it across the length of the balcony.
The video, which was posted to Facebook by Stéphane Dupont, a radio host in Quebec City, cuts off when the man reaches the stairs.
Dupont told CBC he didn’t film the incident himself and that it was sent to him by a listener who witnessed the scene.
Dupont said he debated posting the video, but ultimately thought it was important to draw attention to what happened, describing the situation as “appalling.”
“Having lost my parents a few years ago, I couldn’t imagine my father or mother being carried in a bag like that, lugged around like that,” he said.
Annie St-Pierre, executive director of the Corporation des thanatologues du Québec, an organization representing those in the province’s funeral sector, said she was troubled by what she saw.
“It’s disturbing, it’s shocking, regardless of the context, these are unacceptable transport conditions,” she said, adding it shows a lack of respect for human dignity.
St-Pierre explained there are standards about how to properly move a body, including securing the body to a stretcher that is carried by two people.
In an email to Radio-Canada, Jake Lamotta Granato, a spokesperson for the coroner’s office, confirmed the man seen in the video is an employee of a private funeral transporter under contract for the coroner.
Lamotta Granato said that that contract has been suspended pending an investigation.
He went on to add that the coroner’s office has service contracts with around 100 private carriers and that they have obligations to fulfil “regarding the quality of service and respect for the deceased and their grieving families.”
“If a company fails to meet these obligations, the coroner’s office will not hesitate to take action, as we have done in this case,” he said.
The coroner’s office has also reached out to the family to apologize.
St-Pierre said she was relieved the coroner had taken swift action and launched an investigation.
Without making excuses for what happened, St-Pierre said there are persistent problems in the industry, including a scarcity of labour and the pressure for a deceased person to be quickly taken into care.
“The job of a funeral transporter is very difficult,” she said. “You can understand that there isn’t a rush of people applying for this job.”
She said her organization will collaborate fully with the coroner’s office and the public security minister to shed light on the situation, to ensure it never happens again.
For his part, Quebec’s Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière condemned the incident and said he supported the decision by the coroner’s office and expressed full confidence in its work.
