New Green Burial Sections Opening Across Ontario in 2026

For a province where green burial has historically been hard to find, 2026 has brought a noticeable shift. Several new natural burial sections are opening or clearing their final regulatory hurdles this year — each one the result of advocates spending years navigating zoning amendments, groundwater studies and municipal council meetings to get there.

Cambridge and Highlands East

In Cambridge, St. Stephen's Cemetery held the opening ceremony for its new green burial section in May 2026. The section had already been operating quietly before the ceremony, giving families in the region a local, dedicated natural burial option where none existed before. Not far away, Highlands East has a natural burial area of its own planned to open later this year.

The people behind these projects describe the process as anything but simple. One advocate who pushed for years to get a natural burial section approved put it plainly: what she expected to take a few phone calls instead became a maze of studies, zoning amendments and public concerns about groundwater — a process that stretched on for years before approval.

Oro-Medonte's New Natural Burial Ground

Further north, Oro-Medonte council approved a zoning amendment in February 2026 clearing the way for a new privately run natural burial ground, championed by Susan Greer, executive director of the Natural Burial Association. It's a rare example of a dedicated, standalone natural burial ground rather than a green section carved out of an existing conventional cemetery — a model that remains far less common in Ontario than the hybrid approach.

Why Hybrid Sections Are Still the Norm

Most green burial access in Ontario, including the new Cambridge and Highlands East sections, follows the same pattern: a section set aside within an existing, otherwise conventional cemetery. It's the most achievable model, since it doesn't require establishing an entirely new licensed cemetery from scratch, and it's why hybrid green sections vastly outnumber standalone natural burial grounds or conservation burial sites across the province.

That's part of why each new opening tends to get local news coverage — it's still genuinely uncommon. According to the Green Burial Society of Canada, a natural burial section has to meet five core principles to qualify: no embalming, burial in biodegradable materials only, a naturalized grave site that integrates with the surrounding landscape, simple memorialization instead of upright monuments, and land use planned for long-term sustainability rather than maximum plot density.

The Demand Behind the Growth

These openings aren't happening in a vacuum. Cremation remains the overwhelming choice for Canadians, accounting for close to 77 per cent of deaths as of 2024, but interest in green burial has been building steadily, driven partly by environmental concerns and partly by cost. Nearly half of Ontarians report being worried about affording end-of-life costs for a family member, and green burial is often, though not always, less expensive than a traditional burial once a vault, embalming and an elaborate casket are factored in.

Regulatory and financial barriers still shape how fast this can grow — Ontario's cemetery maintenance fee structure in particular is a genuinely contested piece of the picture, with real arguments on both sides. (We break that down in more detail in Ontario's 40 per cent green burial fee: what it pays for, and why it's contested.)

What to Check Before You Count on a New Site

If a new green section near you has just opened or is about to, it's worth confirming directly with the cemetery what's actually included before assuming it matches another site you've read about. Rules on containers, markers, vault requirements and pricing still vary meaningfully from one Ontario cemetery to the next, even among sites that all describe themselves as offering green burial.

For the broader picture of what's available across the province right now, see our guide to green burial options in Ontario, or start with how to plan a green burial in Canada if you're still working through the basics.