Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery begins Right of Interment Reclamation project

News Release

Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery (KMPC) is reclaiming unused Right of Interment Permits sold more than 50 years ago. A Right of Interment Permit is the right to be interred in a particular plot within a Cemetery, commonly referred to as “the rights to a plot”. Reclamation only applies to unused permits, meaning a plot is currently vacant (no interment has taken place) that were sold in or before 1973.  

Permit Holders or their immediate family members have until October 7, 2024, to notify KMPC via email their intent to use, transfer, or surrender their Right of Interment Permit, otherwise the Cemetery will reclaim them. 

“The purpose of this reclamation project is to ensure the City is responsibly managing Cemetery land,” said Tracey Hillis, Cemetery Manager. “Because these plots were sold 50 years ago, they often get forgotten about after so many years, or the owner has already been interred elsewhere. Without completing a project like this, cemeteries would have plots that go unused forever, leaving less space for those who may want to be buried in our local Cemetery.”  

Cemetery permits issued in 1973 and earlier did not include detailed contact information of the purchaser, or the information provided is no longer valid. If you are (or think an immediate family member might be) a permit holder for a vacant plot location, please send an email to cemeterypermits@kelowna.ca. Staff will review the status of the permit (if any) and update its files with the correct contact information and the intention to either use the permit, transfer the permit to an immediate family member, or surrender the permit. 

If the original plot holder has passed away, an immediate family member may be eligible to use the original Right of Interment Permit for a casket burial. 

Reclamation is standard practice for cemeteries all over the world and in British Columbia, this practice is regulated by the Cremation, Interment, and Funeral Services Act (part 2, section 25 - Reclamation of a right of interment previously sold). The regulation states that a Cemetery may reclaim a Right of Interment Permit if the permit was sold 50 or more years prior, and the Cemetery attempted to contact the original permit holder and has waited 90 days. The Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery provides individuals with five months (150 days) before reclaiming these permits. 

For more information including frequently asked questions, visit kelownacemtery.ca/reclamation.