Grieving families call out Quebec for 'inhumane' death certificate delay
CBC
When Lauma Cenne's husband died at the end of December, she planned a private memorial service for April.
By then, she figured, she'd have his death certificate and be on the way to settling his affairs.
But nearly three months after his death, she's still waiting.
"It's just inhumane," said Cenne.
Cenne's husband, Michael Pinsonneault, was a prolific musician and a professor at Concordia University. He died from a rare form of appendix cancer.
Initially, Cenne said the funeral home told her it would take four to six weeks to obtain a death certificate and she was encouraged when the province debited her account for the application fee at the end of January.
"I thought, 'Oh, cool, they're processing it, it'll be sometime in February or mid-February'," said Cenne.
But when March rolled around and she still hadn't received it, she got in touch with the funeral home again, which informed her the province is only now processing deaths from the beginning of December.
"This is absurd," said Cenne.
Without Pinsonneault's death certificate, she can't liquidate his assets. She can't complete his taxes, receive his death benefit or open an account to deposit his estate cheques, all of which has put a big strain on her finances.
"All through February, every evening I'm looking at the bank account even though I know nothing's changing. I've done the math 40 times. It's added stress that's not needed," said Cenne, who gave up her job to care for Pinsonneault for about six months before his death.
"I just feel like I am waiting for a guillotine to drop," she said. "I've had to borrow money to keep paying my mortgage."
This is not the first time grieving Quebec families have called out the province for long wait times.
For most of 2019, a backlog at the government's Directeur de l'état civil, or registrar of civil status — the agency responsible for registering births, marriages and death — meant many families waited up to four months for a death certificate.