Scattered Episode 30: The Canadian Funeral Industry – Interview with Patrick Church

Patrick Church is a funeral director, embalmer, and instructor in the funeral directing program at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

In this episode we talk about:

• Patrick’s background and how he found himself in funeral services.
• the history of funeral practices, and how funeral practices have historically been centred around the home until urbanization made these practices impractical.
• the evolution of the funeral industry as it adapted to the needs and wants of the communities and families it serves.
• how funeral services are continuing to adapt to a changing economic climate prompted by the desire for cremation.
• challenges of traditional funeral services in comparison to more recent celebrations of life, and interest in alternatives like natural burials.
• newer services that are offered, such as helping more with grief, pre-death care, and community outreach as cultural perspectives around mortality change, and to focus on meaningful rituals and long-term grief support.
• How the industry may evolve in response to diversifying preferences remains uncertain but adaptability has been key to its development.

You can contact Patrick through Mount Royal University here: https://www.mtroyal.ca/ContinuingEducation/OccupationalPrograms/fu

****

Notes from the start

Find my books here: https://yvonnekjorlien.com/shop/

Find some of my art here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/YKjorlienCreate/shop

Support the podcast and my research and Buy Me A Coffee or Patreon. Your contributions will go toward my research, webhosting, and my time on this podcast. Want to find out more about my research? Check out the Scavenging Study.

Contact me through ykjorlien@gmail.com or through my contact form. Follow me on Facebook at The Reluctant Archaeologist, or through Instagram @yvonnekjorlien

Do you have a suggestion for a topic on the Scattered podcast?

Do you have a question about working with human remains?

Drop me a note at ykjorlien@gmail.com

Transcript

Yvonne Kjorlien: All right, Patrick. I’m gonna get you to introduce yourself. Because I always have a fear of saying somebody’s name incorrectly and that’s just not nice. So you know who you are, how to say your name, so please tell me who you are and what you do.

Patrick Church: Okay, my name is Patrick Church. I’m a funeral director and embalmer. I also have the privilege of serving as an instructor at Mount Royal University in the funeral director and embalming program and my specific area of expertise is embalming theory.

Yvonne Kjorlien: Wow, I am just tickled that I could get you on a podcast because I’ve always had an interest in embalming.

Patrick Church: Okay.

Yvonne Kjorlien: And I actually tried to get a job an apprenticeship, way back, 20 years ago when I was fresh out of grad school, but everybody wanted me to do the funeral services part, that the sort of sales end of things. I said, “no, no, no, I don’t do well with the living. I want to work with the dead.” But they didn’t seem to want that. They wanted me at the frontend doing sales and so it didn’t work out.

Patrick Church: That’s unfortunate. A loss to the industry.

Yvonne Kjorlien: Aw, you’re very sweet. Thank you. So let’s talk about how you fo