JARVIS—Haldimand OPP are seeking the public’s assistance following the theft of two urns containing human remains from the columbarium at Knox Presbyterian Church cemetery in Jarvis.
A columbarium is a structure with compartments for the storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains.
Police were first notified of the theft on Thursday, June 11, 2026, and issued a media release about the incident on June 30.
David Brazeau, Communications Manager for Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), said, “Unfortunately, we are familiar with similar stressful and sad matters affecting families and cemeteries.”
“BAO staff are reviewing this matter to ensure that any human remains are treated with dignity and respect for the deceased and descendants, in accordance with the law – the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002,” continued Brazeau.
The Jarvis theft follows a string of cemetery thefts across Norfolk County in 2025. At the time, JLM Metal Recycling in Norfolk County contacted police to inform them of suspicious materials brought to the company’s Waterford yard for sale.
Last August, a 39-year-old Oxford County man was arrested after an officer conducting patrols at Waterford Greenwood Cemetery spotted him leaving the grounds. That officer later recovered numerous stolen items from the suspect’s vehicle.
Brass and bronze items, including name plates, screws, and an urn containing remains were among items reported stolen from cemeteries in Port Rowan, Langton, Port Dover, and Delhi in 2025.
Ontario Historical Society board member and local history advocate Graeme Bachiu said there’s been an ongoing concern regarding columbariums.
“The concern is, as opposed to digging in the ground, it’s relatively easy to break into one,” he said.
“I’m not sure what anybody can do about that, but the suggestion is they need to install security cameras in the cemetery,” he said.
However, Bachiu noted that many cemetery boards are run by volunteers, working with limited budgets.
“It’s something nobody has ever considered. Five years ago, this was not a thing – now suddenly it is,” he said.
Bachiu called the thefts, especially those including human remains, “traumatic and re-traumatizing in some cases.”
“There are easier ways to make money that are less disruptive in my opinion,” he said. “It’s not even the theft of the urn or any of that stuff – I mean there’s cost associated with all that stuff – but it’s really the disrespect and hurtfulness of the whole thing. Everyone needs to understand that these are human beings.”
In addition to contacting the cemetery operator and police to report damage, suspected vandalism, or theft at their loved one’s gravesite, columbarium, mausoleum, or monument, Brazeau recommended victims contact the BAO Licensing unit at 1-844-493-6356 or by email at licensing@theBAO.ca.
“Under the law, licensed cemetery operators are responsible for ensuring the safety, security, and dignity of interment sites in their care by conducting regular inspections of cemetery grounds, monuments, and columbariums, ensuring that locks, fastenings, and other security measures on columbariums are intact, reporting immediately to local police and the BAO if/when there are any signs of tampering, theft, or vandalism, and maintaining accurate burial and interment records to assist in the identification of recovered property,” said Brazeau.
In such instances, he recommended improved surveillance and visibility, including signs, lighting, community awareness.
Those with information related to the thefts in Jarvis can contact Haldimand OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online at helpsolvecrime.com, where you may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.
“Those remains need to be recovered,” said Bachiu.
