Plans For Montreal Cemetery Mausoleum Upset Group

From The CBC:

A Montreal conservation group is upset with a cemetery's plans to cut down several trees in order to build a mausoleum.

The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery intends to fell 41 mature trees to make room for a new mausoleum in Mount Royal Park.

If the cemetery needs a mausoleum, it should be built elsewhere, said Gabrielle Korn, a spokeswoman for Friends of the Mountain.

"It's not a necessary construction on the mountain," she told CBC.

"It doesn't integrate properly on the mountain. The neighbouring Mount Royal Cemetery also has mausoleums, but they were built elsewhere on the island of Montreal, not on cemetery property.

"We think that is a very viable option, that Notre-Dame-des-Neiges should also adopt," Korn said.

The cemetery's administration is negotiating with the local borough office to obtain a permit to build the mausoleum in a protected area of the park.

The plan includes a new building, a parking area, and a drainage pipe.

The cemetery administration was unavailable for comment.