Green burial is growing in Canada, but unevenly. What's available depends heavily on where you live, and what counts as "green" varies considerably from one cemetery to the next. This guide offers a practical overview — what's possible across the country, how the regional picture differs, and what to look for as the movement continues to expand.
The State of Green Burial in Canada
As of 2026, fewer than three dozen cemeteries across Canada offer what we'd call true green burial — direct earth burial in a shroud or simple biodegradable container, with no concrete vault required. Many of these are dedicated sections within larger conventional cemeteries; only a handful are exclusively natural burial grounds.
The good news: the number is growing. Cities and small towns alike are establishing green burial sections, often in response to community demand.
The Regional Picture
British Columbia
BC leads Canada in green burial infrastructure, with sites on Vancouver Island, in the Lower Mainland, and on the Gulf Islands. Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery is Canada's only fully conservation-designated burial ground open to the public.
Alberta
Alberta has expanded rapidly in the last few years. Calgary's Prairie Sky Cemetery, Edmonton's Aurora Gardens and Meadows of Rosehill, and Lethbridge's Grasslands site at Royal View Memorial are all dedicated municipal green burial offerings.
Manitoba
Manitoba is just establishing its first sites. Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg opened a dedicated natural burial section in 2025, and the Wildlands Natural Cemetery project near Tyndall is in development.
Ontario
Ontario has the largest number of sites overall, with both well-established options like Woodlawn (Guelph), Duffin Meadows (Pickering), and Cobourg Union and newer additions in Hamilton, Waterloo, and elsewhere. Eastern Ontario is finally seeing its first dedicated options with Locksley United and the forthcoming Beechwood site in Ottawa.
Quebec
Quebec's green burial options are currently urn-only, but innovative. Les Sentiers Commémoratifs in Prévost (the first natural cemetery in the province) and the Boisé de Vie at Granby's Catholic cemetery both offer tree-planting interment with biodegradable urns.
New Brunswick
Renauds Mills is home to New Brunswick's first forest cemetery — Life Celebration De La Vie — opened recently and currently offering urn-only burial in a wooded setting.
Nova Scotia
Sunrise Park Inter-Faith near Halifax has 600 plots dedicated to green burial, and the Burlington Cemetery in the Annapolis Valley has added a green burial section adjacent to its historic grounds.
Provinces Still Waiting
Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador currently have no dedicated green burial sites. As demand grows, this is expected to change.
What's Driving the Growth
Several forces are pushing the expansion of green burial in Canada:
- Aging baby boomers bringing environmental values into end-of-life planning.
- Cremation fatigue as more people learn about cremation's carbon footprint.
- Municipal interest in offering low-impact options as land becomes scarce.
- Community advocacy from groups across the country pushing for local access.
What to Expect Going Forward
Expect more sites to open over the next decade, including in provinces that currently have none. Expect existing sites to expand their capacity. Expect conventional cemeteries to add dedicated green burial sections as standard practice. And expect the bar for what counts as "green" to keep rising as the public becomes more informed.
The directory on this site is updated as new sites become operational. If you know of a site we've missed, we'd like to hear about it.
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