About Mount Pleasant Group FAQs

Mount Pleasant Group was established in 1826, which means we will mark our 200^th anniversary in 2026! Our sites were established as follows:

• Potter’s Field: 1826 (closed in 1875)
• Toronto Necropolis: 1850
• Mount Pleasant Cemetery: 1876
• Prospect Cemetery: 1890
• Pine Hills Cemetery: 1928
• York Cemetery: 1948
• Beechwood Cemetery: 1965
• Elgin Mills Cemetery: 1979
• Meadowvale Cemetery: 1981
• Thornton Cemetery: 1984
• Duffin Meadows Cemetery: 1993
• The Simple Alternative Toronto: 1994
• The Simple Alternative Mississauga: 1996
• The Simple Alternative Pickering: 2001

We have ten cemeteries and nine funeral centres in the Greater Toronto Area.

Yes, we do! In addition to our cemeteries, Mount Pleasant Group operates nine funeral centres across the Greater Toronto Area. Six of these centres offer a full range of services, from planning, ceremonies and burial to grief support, all in one location. Our three TSA locations provide funeral services but don't offer burials on site. Our goal is to provide families with compassionate, seamless care during a difficult time, in spaces designed to be welcoming, inclusive and comforting.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery is the largest, spanning 205 acres. It runs from Yonge Street to Bayview Avenue, just north of St. Clair Avenue.

We are a not-for-profit corporation. This means we are not owned or subsidized by any level of government, nor do we have shareholders. All revenues generated over-and-above expenses are retained within the organization for the operation of our properties. This allows us to invest in innovations that our customers see value in such as environmentally advanced cremation centres, indoor mausoleums, natural burial areas, modern and spacious multi-functional funeral centres and geo-thermal/solar niche buildings to name a few.

Although space for traditional ground burial is somewhat limited, we do have inventory available in our older Toronto cemeteries within the 416 like Mount Pleasant, York, Pine Hills and Prospect. However, we have plenty of space to last for decades to come in the 905 region. If you are considering cremation, we have considerable space and a wide variety of options available.

All cemetery offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Saturday, except for Toronto Necropolis, which is open by appointment only.

Our funeral office hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Sunday, except for The Simple Alternative - Toronto, which is closed on Sundays. The facilities are open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. for services and visitation.  Our funeral office phone lines are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Corporate head office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Our cemetery offices, funeral centres and head office are closed on Statutory Holidays.

Cemetery gates open promptly at 8 a.m. and close according to the following seasonal schedule:

• April 1 to October 31: 8:00 p.m.
• November 1 to March 31: 5:30 p.m.

Please note that occasionally, due to inclement weather, we may need to close the gates temporarily while we make the cemeteries safe for visitors.  

Yes, our funeral services and cemeteries cater to multiple faiths and traditions. We are also here to serve individuals and families with no chosen or specific affiliation to a faith or religion. We're simply here to support everyone's personal preferences or choices.

Based on data from the end of 2024, we have approximately 738,685 interments at our sites. That includes: 

• Potter's Field of Muddy York: 6,685
• Toronto Necropolis: 66,000
• Mount Pleasant: 213,000
• Prospect: 172,000
• Pine Hills: 119,000
• York: 63,000
• Beechwood: 32,000
• Elgin Mills: 24,000
• Meadowvale: 23,000
• Thornton: 13,000
• Duffin Meadows: 7,000

No.   MPGC has never received grants, funding or land from government.

Yes. In its 2025 fiscal year, more than 1 in every 6 casket burials performed by MPGC were “social assistance” burials provided to families unable to afford the cost of interment. In such situations, MPGC receives a set, below-market fee from the local municipality.

Yes, some. 

MPGC pays commercial property taxes on all of its undeveloped lands as well as on the parcels of land where its Funeral Centres are situated. It also pays sales, consumption and employer taxes. 

However, like all other cemeteries in Ontario, MPGC is exempt from paying municipal property taxes for the cemetery lands and cremation centres it operates because of its mandated perpetual obligations to consumers. 

Similarly, like the other roughly 95% of cemeteries that are operated on a not-for-profit basis in Ontario, MPGC does not pay income tax. The very small percentage of cemeteries that do pay income tax are strictly for-profit entities where the shareholders in the company benefit based on its financial success. MPGC, by contrast, has no shareholders, and all profits generated are invested back into the company. 

Canadian Memorial Services, MPGC’s affiliated company providing funeral services to the public, is fully taxable.

MPGC and its employees contribute to many community-based causes and organizations. MPGC is particularly proud to provide financial support to Hospice and Palliative Care Ontario (HPCO) and to several local hospices. One way it does this is by donating all of its proceeds from the recycling of metals recovered during the cremation process. MPGC also supports two annual cash awards given to member organizations of HPCO: one for general excellence and innovation, and another for palliative care organizations serving equity-deserving populations.

Absolutely not. Our cemeteries have been open to the public for 200 years and we have no plans to change that. While our first priority will always be to the decedents in our care and those who grieve their loss, we are pleased that our cemeteries have also become places for members of the community to visit, enjoy the beautiful surroundings, and spend time in quiet reflection.

Municipal governments regulate zoning, planning, land use and the building of structures on cemetery lands. Provincially, the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, R.S.O 2002 (“FBCSA”) regulates how cemeteries, funeral establishments, crematoriums and transfer services must conduct themselves. In addition, in 2016 the Province of Ontario established the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), a non-profit delegated administrative authority, to license and oversee all bereavement service operations in Ontario and to administer the provisions of the FBCSA. To ensure Ontario’s consumers are protected, in addition to annual filing and re-licensing requirements, the BAO conducts inspections of licensed operators. MPGC welcomes and cooperates with all such inspections.

The cemetery business is unlike any other. Each cemetery in Ontario has a legislated responsibility to care for its properties in perpetuity. No other industry has this responsibility. In order to ensure that cemeteries always have the necessary resources to provide proper upkeep to those decedents who are interred on their properties, Ontario’s Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act (FBCSA) requires all cemeteries to establish and maintain a separate Care and Maintenance fund or account. A fixed portion of the revenue received from the sale of each interment right must be deposited into that Care and Maintenance fund/account. That capital can never be used by the cemetery operator; only the income earned on the capital may be released by the fund/account Trustee to the cemetery operator to help pay for the maintenance costs of the cemetery. 

MPGC has sufficient financial assets within its Care and Maintenance fund (currently valued at $700 million+ CAD) to maintain its properties in perpetuity without becoming a financial burden on the municipalities or the taxpayers where it operates its cemeteries.