31 deadline passed - the church alleges the family doesn't have the required documents to confirm their rights to the plot, and is "trying to inter the body in the grave that belongs to another person." It did not provide specifics. In an email sent to CBC News - signed by an unnamed board of directors, and sent shortly after the Aug.
Church officials did not respond to repeated requests for contact information. The records name the secretary and treasurer as well as the president, but CBC News was not able to reach them. Lambert's exact role within the church remains unclear.Ĭorporate records don't reveal who owns September 21. Art Lambert, who is also a lawyer, said he is legally representing September 21 when it comes to the burial conditions. Yet in an email to the Tsotsos family's lawyer, Rev. The church has repeatedly denied any involvement in the situation to CBC News. The Tsotsos family says it has provided maps and ground-penetrating radar scans confirming the location of the grave, which had been marked and already bears a headstone with the family name. The family says it has been trying to organize a burial ever since, but to no avail. The situation escalated in January when church officials called police, accusing funeral home employees, who tried to prepare the burial site, of trespassing, according to York Regional Police. But when the cemetery and church were sold in 2020 to an entity called September 21 Inc., no one told the family, who no longer have any relatives in the area. The Tsotsos family has owned its plot at the Headford Cemetery since 2014, and two other family members are already buried there. "I know life is not a movie, and I'm likely going to lose," she said. "Other times I just get so angry that I'm digging my heels in," she said.īut trying to advocate for her father from the U.K., where she now lives, is taking a toll. Some days she just crashes, weeping under the weight of the ordeal. Lisa says the stress of the situation is mounting. The Nativity of the Mother of God Orthodox Church and adjoining cemetery in Richmond Hill are owned by September 12 Inc. The church is not named in any court order, yet much of the logistical correspondence for the family has taken place with representatives from the church. The church says it is not part of the dispute, but still alleges the family doesn't have all the required documents to confirm their rights to the plot. The BAO and family say the landowner and representatives from the Nativity of the Mother of God Orthodox Church are continuing to bar access to the gravesite, in breach of a court order which stated Louis's remains must be buried by Aug. But instead of being buried next to his father at a Richmond Hill cemetery north of Toronto like he wanted, his body is decaying above ground at a nearby funeral home.Īnd despite a court order directing that the Toronto-area man be buried in a family-owned plot at the Headford Cemetery, members of the Tsotsos family, alongside the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), remain locked in a legal battle with the cemetery's owner. Her dad, Louis, died of COVID-19 complications on Jan. Lisa Tsotsos has been trying to bury her father for eight months now - and as the emotional weight of the ordeal and her legal bills pile up - she says she's starting to lose hope.
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