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Ashes: When cremated, the body of a person is reduced to ashes. These ashes are then placed in an urn.

Attestation of death: An official letter from Directeur de l’état civil. This letter confirms the presence or absence in the civil status register. An attestation of death does not replace a death certificate or a copy of an act of death.


Burial plot: A piece of land located in cemetery or a rented place in a mausoleum where an urn or coffin is placed.


Cemetery: A burial place where urns and coffins of the deceased are placed. There are several types of cemeteries: private, public, religious, etc.

Chapel: A chapel is a place where you commemorate a person who has passed away. A ceremony, whether religious or not, takes place in the chapel to honor the deceased. Some funeral home complexes have chapels as part of their facilities.

Coffin: A wooden or metal box in which a corpse is placed before being buried or put into a crypt.

Columbarium: A room or building with niches for funeral urns to be stored. Columbariums are often found in cemeteries or funeral home complexes. They can be located indoors or outdoors.

Cremation: Cremation is a process that uses high heat to reduce a corpse to ashes. Often called incineration, this technique is increasingly being used for the deceased.

Crematorium: A crematorium is where cremations take place.

Crypt: A crypt is located in a mausoleum where a coffin can be placed. This is different from a traditional burial as the coffin is placed inside vault in a wall rather than underground.


Death: Death is the end of life. Following a death, a funeral home takes care of the funeral rites of the deceased based on his/her and the family’s last wishes.

Death certificate: A document stating the surnames and given names of the deceased person, his or her gender, date of birth, date and place of death, and the registration number and date of issue of the certificate. This is not an attestation of death.

Deceased: A term used for a person who has passed away.


Exhumation: An exhumation is the process of removing a coffin from its burial plot.


Final resting place: A term used to explain where a person will be buried in a coffin or where the urn will be placed.

Funeral: A funeral is the rites that are organized to celebrate the life of someone who has passed away.

Funeral director: The person who meets with a family of a loved one that is passed in order to plan for the funeral.

Funeral home: A funeral home is where the loved ones of a person who has passed away come together to celebrate his/her life. Also called a funeral parlor.

Funeral home complex: A large funeral home that features everything under one roof: chapel, visitation rooms, reception halls, etc.

Funeral monument: A funeral monument is a commemorative monument with an epitaph (name, date of birth, date of death, and any other statement) inscribed on the front in memory of a person who has passed away. It is often called a headstone or tombstone.


Grief: The natural process that takes place when a loved one passes away. Grief has several major and essential stages.


Headstone: Often called a funeral monument or tombstone, a headstone is a slab of stone with an epitaph (name, date of birth, date of death, and any other statement) inscribed on the front in memory of a person who has passed away.

Hearse: A hearse is specially designed vehicle to convey a coffin at a funeral.


Incineration: An inexact term to describe a cremation, which is the process that uses high heat to reduce a corpse to ashes

Inhumation: Inhumation is the act of burying a deceased person. A person can be buried in a coffin or urn.


Last wishes: The final requests of a person before death.


Memory stone: Memory stones are alternatives to columbariums and traditional burial plots. They are often located in an ecological garden and used as a marker to find the burial plot of a loved one.

Morgue: A place in the hospital where the body of the deceased is placed before the funeral home claims it.


Niche: A space in a columbarium or mausoleum where an urn is placed.


Pallbearer: One of several people who may help to carry a coffin or urn during a funeral. Pallbearers are responsible of carrying the coffin or urn during the entire ceremony.

Plaque: A plaque is a more discreet alternative to a funeral monument. Available in either bronze or granite, a plaque features the same information as a headstone.


Repatriation: Repatriation is the process of returning a deceased person to his or her place of origin (either from abroad to Québec or from Québec to abroad). Many funeral homes offer the services to carry out the legal procedures that repatriation entails.

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