The province and the Nova Scotia regulator of funeral directors are investigating after the new owners of an Annapolis Valley funeral home discovered the cremated remains of a “significant number” of people in storage, CBC News has learned.
It comes as several Nova Scotia families who used the services of Serenity Funeral Home say they were shocked and horrified to receive calls letting them know that ashes belonging to their dead loved ones had been found.
“I kind of started internally freaking out because I buried my mom in 2024,” said Kristina Sweeney.
“I don’t even think the shock has worn off yet.… I thought I buried my mom, all of her. I put her in the ground by myself.”
Sweeney wasn’t the only one contacted by East Coast Memorial, which recently purchased the buildings from Serenity Funeral Home. Serenity’s head office and crematorium were located in the small community of Coldbrook. The company also had other locations in the Annapolis Valley.
Michelle Carey and her sister Amanda Sabean used Serenity when they buried what they believed were the cremated remains of their father, Hendrik (Hank) Sabean, in the spring of 2018. On Sept. 8, Carey was informed by East Coast Memorial that her father’s full remains were found in storage.
“Having to, you know, bury him and to do this all over again. It’s really hard,” said Carey.
The sisters are also left wondering whose remains they buried.
“There’s a family out there that’s missing remains of their family member,” said Sabean.
In an email, Andrew George, the owner of the new business East Coast Memorial, explained that his company discovered “a significant number of cremated remains that had been left in storage, some for many, many years.”
George said he and his staff are carefully reviewing the home’s information to “make every reasonable effort to locate and contact families so that these loved ones could be returned to their families or otherwise laid to rest appropriately.”
Sweeney said when her mother, Elizabeth Pelton, died in 2023 at the age of 60, her body was cremated. Sweeney chose a green urn, which she received and buried.
This month, the employee of East Coast Memorial who returned what’s believed to be the rest of her mother’s ashes gave her a green urn with a different pattern. It had been identified with a sticky note label as her mother’s. Sweeney said the employee told her that there were “dozens” of other urns found.
Another family told CBC their loved one’s remains were delivered to them in a cardboard box.
Sweeney wrote a post on Facebook about her experience and started receiving responses from other families. They recounted similar experiences, believing that they had received and buried their loved ones. Then they were contacted by East Coast Memorial years later suggesting otherwise.
“Every single person I’ve spoken to was under the impression that they had taken care of all the remains,” Sweeney said. “They were either buried or they took the urn home.”
George said his company is still assessing all the cases and doing its due diligence “as thoroughly as possible for each family,” and so he isn’t able to say exactly how many persons’ remains were found.
When CBC reached Tony Facey, a former owner of Serenity Funeral Home for 12 years until December 2025, he confirmed there was a “whole stack” of cremated remains dating back as far as 25 years that had never been claimed by families. He said unclaimed remains is a wider issue all funeral homes are dealing with, and this has been an ongoing discussion at the regulatory board. Facey declined an interview.
The president of the Funeral Service Association of Nova Scotia, Kollin Weatherbee, said he’s never heard of a funeral home keeping decades of unclaimed remains.
“It is unusual that a funeral home would hold a portion of someone’s ashes without the family knowing,” he said.
Weatherbee added that if a funeral home held ashes for a family, it would only be for a matter of weeks.
And in situations where a next of kin can’t be identified or reached, he said the public trustee usually gets involved within the first 12 days of a death.
The province licenses and regulates funeral homes through Service Nova Scotia, while an arm’s-length board licenses and regulates funeral home directors.
The province learned of the stored ashes on Sept. 9 when it was contacted by that board and George, the owner of East Coast Memorial. It assigned two provincial inspectors to visit the crematorium the next day to learn more.
Adam Tipert, the chair of the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, told CBC in an email the board is taking the concerns “very seriously” and will collaborate with Service Nova Scotia in its investigation as more information emerges.
The province and the board also conducted an investigation at Serenity Funeral Home in 2018, when the location in Berwick mixed up the bodies of two women. A funeral director had his licence revoked.
That case eventually led to a change in the legislation surrounding funeral homes in 2025.
A provincial spokesperson said Serenity was routinely inspected in 2022, and some non-compliant administrative matters were resolved.
Following the sale to East Coast Memorial, Serenity is no longer licensed to operate funeral homes in Nova Scotia.
George said right now he is keeping focused on doing what is right for the families.
“We do not want to speculate about decisions or practices that occurred before our involvement,” he said, adding that his company will treat the remains with respect and dignity, as they were “received into our care when we acquired Serenity.”
George said his company is making plans for a community burial ceremony for any remains that can’t be reunited with a family, or if the families direct his company to do so.
Hank Sabean’s daughters still have many unanswered questions, especially since their father had been so clear about his own funeral arrangements and being laid to rest with his family.
“He had strong morals and values, and I know that he would think that this is so wrong that this could happen,” said Carey.
Kristina Sweeney said her mother would also be “really, really disgusted.”
“I felt like my mom and I had been violated,” she said. “I expect when someone passes away that, and I’m sure most people do, they’re treated with dignity and respect.”
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