'It just delays that healing process': Larger, in-person funerals returning after months of pandemic postponements

Funeral homes working through backlog From CTV Kitchener's Jessica Smith: The pandemic has had a significant impact on funeral homes and many are now facing a big backlog.

Kitchener — The pandemic has drastically changed protocols when it comes to how we recognize the loss of a loved one.

For the Groulx family, it delayed giving a proper goodbye to not only one, but two family members.

Les Groulx passed away on Christmas eve of heart and kidney failure. At the time, indoor funeral services were limited to 10 people.

Four months later, his son Kendall Groulx lost his battle with colon cancer. At that time, Ontario was under a provincial stay-at-home order.

The family decided to wait until restrictions relaxed, allowing them to hold an in-person service with their support system present.

“When it's put on hold for so long it just delays that healing process, so we all had to wait and wait,” said Brian Allison, Les’s son-in-law and Kendall’s brother-in-law.

It has been a roller coaster of emotions said Lisa, the daughter of Les and sister of Kendall.

Delaying memorial services to allow for a larger gathering is something the Funeral Service Association of Canada said has been the path for many.

According to the Westmount Memorial Celebration Centre in Kitchener, with indoor restrictions widening, they are seeing a large number of families reaching out with some even booking into next summer.

“As funeral professionals, our hearts broke when we saw families not be able to have that important, important moment. So now, we are able to welcome people. We want to, we want to help them and support them through this,” said Pam Gerber, the general manager at Westmount.

“I loved them both so dearly,” said Elaine Groulx, Les’s wife and Kendall’s mother. “So I’m trying my best to carry on.”

Currently, funeral homes can have up to 30 per cent capacity indoors with masks and physical distancing. At Westmount, that means up to 100 people.

For the Groulx family, after months of waiting, it meant 70 of their loved ones could join them on Aug. 15, what would have been Les's 77th birthday, to finally be able to say goodbye.