SYDNEY, N.S. — The licence of a former Sydney funeral director in Sydney has been revoked after an inquiry by a provincial regulator determined misrepresentation, fraud and professional misconduct including reusing funeral caskets.
On Monday, the Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors said, following an inquiry into the professional conduct of Jillian Nemis of the former S.W. Chant and Son Funeral Home, her licence has been revoked.
“I think it’s safe to say that I speak on behalf of all board members and the funeral profession when I say that I am absolutely shocked and disappointed by the choices made by this funeral director and the funeral home, particularly when you consider their position of trust with families,” said board chair Adam Tipert.
In the fall of 2018, Service Nova Scotia received a complaint that Chant’s funeral home was re-using traditional caskets multiple times. The complaint stated purchasers were paying for wooden rental casket inserts but remains were being placed in a traditional casket for the funeral ceremony, then removed and placed in a cardboard cremation container and transferred to the crematorium.
Meanwhile, stains and fluids were cleaned from the traditional casket and it would be placed back out for reuse.
A traditional casket has a sewn-in lining where the human remains will stay until final interment or cremation.
A rental casket is supplied to a funeral home with six to 10 inserts to be used with the casket. However, after those insets are used up, the supplier requires the funeral home to purchase a new rental casket as the structural integrity of the rental one can be compromised.
As a result of these concerns, Service Nova Scotia issued a notice of a hearing Jan. 28, 2019, however, the hearing was never held due to a suspicious fire at the funeral home Feb. 2.
The funeral home licence was then suspended by the Registrar of Cemetery and Funeral Services on Feb. 8, 2019, as a result of the fire. Owner Sheldon Chant surrendered his funeral director’s and embalmer’s licences shortly afterwards.
FAST FACTS
As a result of the Nova Scotia Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors investigation into Jillian Nemis, former funeral director of S.W. Chant and Son Funeral Home, chair Adam Tipert said they are making recommendations for changes to funeral legislation including:
- To allow the board to immediately suspend a funeral director’s licence before a hearing when the actions of that funeral director put the public at risk.
- Remove the ability of funeral homes to receive funds held in trust for pre-arranged funerals and allow pre-arranged funerals to only be funded through insurance.
- Allow the board greater authority to immediately terminate the apprentice/mentor agreement between an apprentice and a funeral director if the board believes the apprentice is not receiving proper instruction and guidance.
Of 47 files reviewed by the board, nine contacts purchased rental caskets, however, six of the nine arrived at the crematorium in cardboard cremation caskets, not the wooden casket insert purchased. Chant’s was charging $1,375 for use of a rental casket. It was also found Nemis participated in the practice of cleaning traditional caskets of fluids and stains, so they could be used again and also participated in removing human remains in and out of caskets.
As a result, the board found Nemis engaged in misrepresentation and fraud in relation to the reuse of caskets while a funeral director and funeral director in charge and that grieving families were defrauded and did not receive the rental casket insert purchased. The board’s findings included loved ones placed in traditional caskets that were previously used, in some cases up to six times.
However, there is a possibility the numbers could be much higher than presently known.
“Once we started to dive into that part of the investigation, the suspicious fire had already occurred at the funeral home and of course the records were destroyed,” Tipert said.
After the funeral home was no longer licensed, Nemis was found to have arranged a funeral service. At the inquiry Nemis first testified she arranged it as a family friend and not a funeral director but later testified she wasn't close friends with the family and that Sheldon Chant contacted her and instructed her to arrange the funeral service.
The inquiry also went into inspections by SNS in 2018 and 2019 which revealed $315,000 taken from 102 purchasers for pre-arranged funerals and not placed in trust as required by the Cemetery and Funeral Services Act. Money for pre-arrangements would be placed in an office drawer at the instruction of Sheldon Chant, and then picked up by Chant.
Although the staff was following directions from the funeral home owner, the board stated that Nemis, as a funeral director and funeral director in charge of the funeral home, should have known placing the money in a drawer for the owner to pick up was a negligent practice.
As a regulatory board, Tipert said what concerns them is for the families that have been served by this funeral home and have most likely proceeded through the grief process and release of these documents and the unknowns and questions that could now arise from this investigation and inquiry,
“And unfortunately bring them back to start to wonder if they were a family that was not properly served with the S.W. Chant Funeral Home and create some of those grief feelings again,” he added.
Tipert said if any families involved that have questions or concerns are welcomed to contact the board.
Tipert said they believe this was a systemic mode of operation in this one location and have confidence the majority in the funeral industry are professionals who understand the rules and regulations around prepaid funerals, where the money is to go and the proper use of caskets.
“We do believe this is a one-off situation but certainly, to the magnitude it is at, it was certainly disappointing to a regulatory board to come across this amount of information in one investigation.”
Kortney Adams, executive manager of the board, said it was a very eye-opening inquiry.
“There was lots to be reviewed and discussed,” she said, “It was very shocking for all board members and it is the for the public as well at this point.”
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