Bill to strengthen protections for prepaid funeral clients on P.E.I. passes 2nd reading

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 10, 2025 12:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Legislation aimed astatine protecting Prince Edward Islanders who wage successful beforehand for ceremonial services has passed 2nd speechmaking successful the P.E.I. legislature.

The amendment to the Pre-arranged Funeral Services Act would necessitate ceremonial homes to support a bond, oregon different signifier of security, against the deposits that customers enactment down. These funds could beryllium utilized to compensate clients successful the lawsuit of fraud oregon misconduct.

The projected changes would besides necessitate ceremonial homes to supply impervious that lawsuit deposits are held successful a spot account. These accounts would beryllium taxable to audits by the P.E.I. Funeral Services and Professions Board.

This comes aft dozens of families were defrauded of much than $400,000 successful prepaid ceremonial wealth by erstwhile Island ceremonial manager Lowell Oakes.

Oakes, the erstwhile proprietor of Dawson Funeral Home successful Crapaud, was sentenced past twelvemonth to 2 years minus a time successful jailhouse and was released aboriginal connected time parole.

That followed his condemnation connected 66 counts of fraud, 36 of which were for fraud implicit $5,000. Oakes told his victims the wealth was going into a trust, arsenic required by law, but the trusts were ne'er created. 

RCMP recovered cases that went backmost arsenic acold arsenic 1996.

Nothing successful the measure volition use retroactively to radical cheated by Oakes, however.

Green MLA Matt MacFarlane, who has been advocating for the victims, said the state bears immoderate work and should supply them with compensation.

"Government had implicit 40 years to marque regulations precisely on the lines of what we're seeing successful the authorities today. There could person been an onus enactment connected ceremonial location operators backmost then, arsenic we're seeing now, to person information successful spot to screen immoderate misdeeds," MacFarlane told CBC News.

"That was connected authorities to bash that and authorities failed to bash that."

MacFarlane said there's a deficiency of circumstantial details successful the existent measure regarding a compensation money for aboriginal victims of akin fraud. He noted the important magnitude stolen by Oakes to substance his gambling addiction — much than $400,000 — and hopes this lawsuit volition acceptable an due benchmark for immoderate aboriginal compensation.

"I'm hoping that that precedent volition acceptable the parameters appropriately for aboriginal victims of specified crimes," the MLA said.