Independent funeral homes struggle to compete with multinational corporations.
(Photo: Courtesy)
Business, American style
Thanatologist and founder of the Aaron Funeral Home on St. Denis Street in Montreal, Benoît Chagnon has been operating his business independent of American multinationals and big Quebec brand names for the past 17 years.
According to Chagnon, Service Corporation International (SCI) of Houston, Texas, and its 1,600 North American funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematoriums, is doing business in Montreal while hiding its true identity from the public.
“They created a brand named called Dignity that makes people believe the group’s funeral homes are independent. They make believe life is beautiful and that the owners are local. But SCI, after buying a well-established home, will keep the owners for two or three years, only to replace them with their administrators,” he said.
Nearing dishonesty?
Unafraid of retaliation, Chagnon has no intention of keeping quiet. “I don’t find the way they do things honest, because a lot of people think they’re doing business with Quebecers. But that’s a false perception. They’re playing with the clients, and that’s a global strategy: they keep up a local image while the interests are American,” he added.
The 42-year-old puts in a lot of time – up to 70 hours a week – to keep up his business in the competitive funeral industry. It’s an industry that will never die, except for the smaller players that succumb to the giants like SCI, who buy them out.
“A lot of thanatologists in Quebec who acquire millions for their business would rather go play golf or spend the day boating than continue their profession. This leaves the door open to the Americans,” Chagnon said.
Secret identity?
On Dignity’s website, under the Quebec section, there is no mention of SCI. The same thing goes for the American version, Dignity Memorial, where no SCI traces are found. Only the coordinates of the funeral homes that are members of Dignity are listed.
The Americans have had their interests in Montreal since 1969, when SCI acquired Collins Clarke MacGillivray White.
Since then, SCI has bought the Côte-des-Neiges Funeral Centre and Laurent Thériault Funeral Homes, which operates particularly in LaSalle and Verdun. SCI’s arms reach as far as the Montérégie, the North Shore, Estrie, Quebec City and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean.
Louis Savard, the vice president of SCI Canada, contacted Montréal Express when we requested information about two funeral homes part of the group. According to him, SCI is not worried about revealing its American origins.
“We never hid the fact we are American,” he said, adding the Quebec website does not make any references to SCI, because “it’s under construction. The material we will give out clients mentions SCI… When we do promotions, it’s under the name Dignity. When you go to Dairy Queen, do you know what holding company you’re going to?” Savard asked.
On Dairy Queen’s international website, with a few clicks under the ‘About DQ’ tab, you’ll find out about Berkshire-Hathaway Inc., the holding company that owns Dairy Queen, among others.
The difference between SCI and other players in the funeral industry, Savard said, “is that SCI’s prices are very competitive… Synergy helps us have reasonable operation costs, and our pre-arrangement contracts can be honoured by any of our members.”
(Translated by Elyse Amend)
(Photo: Courtesy)
Weather: Montreal, July 4th 2008 / 25°C
/ A few clouds
/ Wind: 22 Km/h / Humidity: 39 % 
Steven Guilbeault - 
