P.E.I. protesters say they lost thousands of dollars when Dawson Funeral Home closed
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
Greater than a dozen individuals gathered exterior the provincial courthouse in Charlottetown Feb. 22 to share their expertise with a pre-paid funeral service that’s now out of enterprise.
The protesters say they misplaced 1000’s of {dollars} when Dawson Funeral Dwelling closed.
For Joe Amelia, chatting with the media exterior the courthouse was crucial as a result of different recourses have failed.
He and his friends have tried to talk to the provincial authorities, however they’ve had no response, Amelia mentioned in a Feb. 22 SaltWire Community interview exterior the courtroom.
“I need to see these individuals get their a reimbursement, each stinking nickel.”
Accountability
Jackie Molyneaux, like a number of others exterior the courthouse, spoke on behalf of her 89-year-old father.
She got here to courtroom to hunt accountability for individuals like her father who misplaced 1000’s of {dollars}, she mentioned.
“There’s been no accountability on the aspect of the federal government or the funeral affiliation to assist us to attempt to retrieve this cash.”
“There’s simply no phrases to explain how we’ve been feeling. Coping with grief on prime of this, it’s been very tough.” – Susan MacKay
Others on the protest mentioned that they had the identical response, and regulation corporations in P.E.I. weren’t all in favour of serving to both.
A number of different individuals talked in regards to the want for tighter laws and accountability for many who take cash prematurely for companies.
Kenneth Monaghan’s message was quick and easy, he mentioned.
“This isn’t a time for an election. It’s time for laws.”
Susan MacKay spoke in regards to the funerals her father and her mother-in-law paid for a number of years in the past. They every paid $10,000 in 2012, she mentioned.
Whereas her father died earlier than the funeral house controversy, MacKay’s mother-in-law was solely spared studying in regards to the misplaced cash as a result of she developed dementia earlier than her loss of life in 2022, MacKay mentioned.
“There’s simply no phrases to explain how we’ve been feeling. Coping with grief on prime of this, it’s been very tough.”
On July 21, 2022, Lowell Oakes was charged by P.E.I. RCMP with 66 counts of fraud for allegedly mishandling funds on the Dawson Funeral Dwelling the place he was director.
Just a few months earlier than, in Might of 2022, the P.E.I. Funeral Providers and Professions Board revoked Oakes’ licenses and fined him $15,000.
Oakes was first scheduled to seem in courtroom on Aug. 22, 2022, to enter a plea.
On Feb. 22, Oakes’ case was adjourned till March 20, and there was no election or plea but. This was the sixth adjournment, in response to what the protesters heard in courtroom on Feb. 22, Molyneux mentioned.
Logan MacLean is a reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. He may be reached by e mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @loganmaclean94.
