Since the very beginning, ethical death care has been at the heart of our practice at KORU Cremation | Burial | Ceremony.
Losing a close friend or loved one can be one of the most painful experiences to endure, and having someone trustworthy to help guide you through the process of honouring their final wishes can provide some much-needed comfort and peace of mind.
While other funeral homes can sometimes feel cold and transactional, our goal is to meet our clients with empathy and understanding, and try to redefine the way death care is carried out for the better. One example: if they so choose, we give clients the opportunity to play a hands-on role in caring for the body of the deceased, allowing them to spend precious final moments with their loved ones after their passing. While we understand that the level of interest and comfort with this process varies from person to person, clients often appreciate being offered this option – and tend to be pleasantly surprised at how meaningful of an experience it is.
Ultimately, our aim is to honour the deceased’s wishes and provide their loved ones with the support and services they need to care for their dead in ways that stay true to their values.
This is why KORU Cremation | Burial | Ceremony is not a conventional “funeral home,” but rather a practice of holistic death care. Our facilities are contemporary and designed to encourage families to participate in the care of their dead if they so choose.
The defining pillars that guide our practice are: Sustainability, Advocacy, Family-Led Care, and Fair Pricing. In this post, we’ll explore what these values mean to us.
Sustainability
Common practices in the death care industry often negatively impact the environment through services such as embalming (which uses toxic chemicals) or cremation. We know that for many, just like us, a desire to protect the planet is an important part of who they are—and we do our best to reflect this in the services we provide.
One of the ways we do this is by choosing not to offer on-site embalming, opting instead for more natural body care methods. And although more eco-friendly alternatives to cremation (such as aquamation) are not yet legal in BC, we do our best to offset our environmental impact by doing things like partnering with renewable energy providers (ours is Bullfrog Power), driving an electric vehicle, practising sustainable sourcing and other habits around the office, and planting trees each month with Tree Canada.
We also provide:
- Locally and sustainably sourced caskets and shrouds to enclose and transport the dead for burial and cremation ceremonies
- Essential, natural body care for the deceased using non-toxic, non-invasive practices (sanitation and temporary preservation using only non-toxic, biodegradable topical products – essential oils – and refrigeration)
- Private and public viewings, home vigils, wakes, church funerals and graveside ceremonies when the deceased has been cared for naturally (as described above)
If you would like to learn more about our commitment to sustainable practices, you can visit this page. To discover eco-friendly ways to honour loved ones, read on here.
Advocacy
Another big part of what we do at KORU Cremation | Burial | Ceremony is advocating for greener alternatives to traditional death care practices.
Since our inception, we’ve worked to change the death care industry for the better, so that people have more freedom to choose services that reflect their values. We continue to advocate for alternative disposition forms such as natural organic reduction (NOR)—also known as terramation—and alkaline hydrolysis (aquamation), and seek to promote existing forms of more sustainable services like natural burials through our work.
If you’d like to get involved, visit www.norbc.ca/ or reach out to us for more information.
Family-Led Care
Many times, our first interaction with a client will be right after they have lost a loved one. We understand that in these highly emotional moments, the last thing people may want is to be bombarded with questions and decisions to make, so we always take care to be sensitive to their needs and not overwhelm them with information.
Our approach is to support families however they need, whether that’s taking care of paperwork on their behalf (with pre-approved consent), providing resources for support, or helping them discover the ethical death care options that are available to them. Essentially, we are here to give families the information they need to make informed decisions, not to direct them towards one thing over another for the sake of selling a product or service.
Fair Pricing
We believe that our clients deserve the best for their loved ones, which is why we go above and beyond to provide quality, ethical death care. We have made purposeful choices to ensure our services are affordable without sacrificing your expectations or experience.
With affordability in mind, we recently introduced an Online Essential Cremation Package priced at $2,692 for people wishing to access the $2500 CPP Death Benefit to cover cremation costs.
This streamlined service is best suited for those currently experiencing a death event (as opposed to pre-planning death care arrangements), who are clear on their choices and preferences, or who are willing to complete cremation arrangements with minimal guidance.
If you think you may want more in-depth guidance and support in navigating death care choices, we offer a wide range of more comprehensive packages that can better meet your needs. The CPP Death Benefit can also be applied to these services to help cover the costs.
Ethical Death Care at KORU Cremation | Burial | Ceremony
Navigating death care options in times of grief is challenging and can feel overwhelming. That’s why we do our best as death care guides to help make this process as easy as possible, as well as offering pre-planning options alongside our at-need services.
Learn more about our services here or book a call with us if you’d like more guidance or even an open-ended discussion.
Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social for more information on ethical death care practices.