There is no dedicated green burial law in this province. The practice sits inside the same Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act that governs every burial and cremation in Ontario, which means the rules that actually affect a family — what a cemetery can require, what it costs, where it is available at all — are spread across provincial regulation, individual cemetery bylaws, and municipal policy. No single document tells you what you are entitled to.
This guide pulls those threads together: what Ontario law requires, what green burial really costs here, where access stands today, and what to do first.
What counts as a green burial
A true green burial returns a body to the earth without embalming, without a vault, in a shroud or a simple biodegradable container. Ontario's regulator, the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), is explicit that there is no separate legal definition of green burial in the Act — the practice simply fits within the existing legislation.
That absence of a legal definition matters more than it sounds. It means the term is unprotected: any cemetery can describe a section as "green," "natural," or "eco-friendly" without meeting any particular standard. The burden of telling the difference falls on the family. For how to do that, see what a true green burial actually involves.
What Ontario law actually requires
Ontario's rules are less restrictive than most families expect.
Embalming is not required
Not in Ontario, and not anywhere in Canada. A funeral home may recommend it depending on timing, but it is not a legal condition of burial.
Vaults cannot be made mandatory
This is the single most useful thing an Ontario family can know, and it is easy to miss. The BAO's guidance to cemetery operators is direct: outer liners and vaults cannot be required of consumers unless a Medical Officer of Health deems it necessary. Cemetery bylaws may require vaults in specific sections for genuine safety reasons — an unstable water table, grading or embankment issues, double-depth interments — but any operator who does that must also keep a section available where vaults are not mandatory.
In practice: if an Ontario cemetery tells you a vault is required, that requirement applies to that section, not to the cemetery. You are entitled to ask which section does not require one.
Markers and landscaping are set by the cemetery, not the province
The Act does not dictate whether a green section uses flat stones, native plantings, or nothing at all. This varies considerably and is worth asking about directly.
What Ontario does regulate tightly is money.
The 40 per cent fee, and what it means for cost
Every cemetery plot sold in Ontario carries a mandatory care and maintenance fee of 40 per cent of the plot price. Green burial plots are not exempt, despite requiring markedly less upkeep than a manicured conventional section — no mowing, no fertiliser, no monument maintenance.
The Natural Burial Association has been sharply critical of this, pointing out that the comparable national average sits closer to 13 per cent. Ontario families pay meaningfully more for the same choice than families in most other provinces.
Green burial in Ontario generally runs somewhere in the $3,000–$8,000 range depending on region and cemetery — usually less than a conventional casketed burial, since a shroud and a low-maintenance plot cost less than a hardwood casket and a monument site. But the 40 per cent fee narrows that gap. If cost is driving your decision, read the full breakdown of Ontario's maintenance fee first.
Where you can actually do this
Access is the real constraint in Ontario, not law.
Ontario has more dedicated green burial sections than any other province — though British Columbia's sites are longer established — and they are still genuinely scarce. Whole regions have no natural burial option within a sensible drive. Reporting by The Narwhal in March 2026 documented how uneven this remains — families running into township-level restrictions, zoning fights, and cemeteries that simply have not taken it on. As one advocate put it, cemeteries tend to follow demand rather than lead it.
That is changing, slowly. Several new green burial sections are opening across Ontario.
For the current, honestly assessed list of every Ontario cemetery offering true green burial — not merely cemeteries marketing themselves as environmentally minded — see our Ontario directory, with every site assessed.
Winter: the constraint nobody expects
Ontario winters can decide your timeline for you.
Frozen ground makes grave opening difficult or impossible in many regions, and because green burial rules out embalming, a body that cannot be buried promptly needs refrigerated storage. Some municipalities restrict winter burials outright unless the body is embalmed — which puts green burial and a winter death in direct conflict. The Narwhal's reporting followed one Haliburton County family straight into this problem: all four townships in the county prohibited winter burial, and the only available storage required embalming.
If you are planning ahead, this is worth understanding now rather than discovering in February: green burial and frozen ground in Canada.
Green burial or cremation?
Cremation is widely assumed to be the environmentally sound option, and in Ontario — where green burial access is limited — it is often the more practical one. The environmental comparison is genuinely more complicated than the assumption suggests, and worth understanding before deciding either way: green burial vs. cremation, honestly compared.
If you are weighing alternatives more broadly, alkaline hydrolysis has been legal in Ontario since 2015 and is a different proposition again: what aquamation in Ontario actually involves.
How to plan one
1. Find a cemetery with a real green burial section
Not every "natural" or "memorial garden" label meets the standard of direct earth burial without a vault. Start with the Ontario site directory.
2. Ask the cemetery specific questions
Does this section require a vault or liner — and if so, which section doesn't? What containers are accepted? Is there a winter burial policy? These vary cemetery to cemetery even where provincial law is silent.
3. Work with a funeral director who has done this before
Not all have. They handle the transfer permit, and — critically without embalming — the timing, since burial generally needs to happen within days or the body held in refrigeration.
4. Decide on a shroud or a simple container
Shroud burial is the most elemental form and what most dedicated green sections are designed around.
5. Get the full cost in writing, including the maintenance fee
Ask for the complete breakdown before committing so the 40 per cent does not arrive as a surprise.
The fuller cross-Canada walkthrough is here: how to plan a green burial in Canada.
Common questions
Is green burial legal in Ontario?
Yes. It is not separately defined in law, but it is fully permitted under the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act.
Do I need a casket?
No. Ontario law does not require a casket. A shroud or biodegradable container is sufficient, provided the cemetery section accepts it — see shroud burial in Canada.
Can a cemetery force me to buy a vault?
Not across the board. Vaults cannot be made mandatory to consumers unless a Medical Officer of Health requires it. A cemetery may require them in particular sections for safety reasons, but must keep a section available where they are not mandatory.
Why is green burial so hard to find in Ontario?
Partly regulation, partly inertia. Establishing a natural burial ground involves zoning, environmental review, and community consultation, and many operators have not taken it on. Access is improving but remains uneven.
Does the 40 per cent maintenance fee apply to green burial plots?
Yes. There is no exemption, despite the lower upkeep involved. Full detail here.
Browse every Ontario green burial site in detail.
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