All in the family: Cemetery groundskeepers honoured for nearly 100 years of work

Yves Lahaie has spent his entire life working at the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery in Montreal, continuing a nearly century-long tradition in his French Canadian family.

As a teenager, Lahaie started by mowing the cemetery’s grass daily. Over the years, he took on a larger role, raising his own children on the cemetery grounds and helping grieving families through some of their hardest days.

“To me, everybody that is here, we have to give respect to them,” Lahaie said.

This week, the Lahaie family was honored for their decades-long partnership with the cemetery, located in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood. In a ceremony on Monday, four generations of the family were recognized with their own dedicated section of the cemetery.

“This place is like my family,” Lahaie said. “This place is my family.”

The family’s connection to the cemetery began with Lahaie’s grandfather, who started working there in the 1930s, digging graves by hand.

“Sixteen members of the same family have worked in this cemetery. It’s incredible, it’s a partnership,” said Jonathan Wise, executive director of the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery. “Without them, we couldn’t do this. They know every single section, they know every single portion.”

The cemetery’s first headstone was placed in 1890, though it was officially established in 1905. As Montreal’s largest Jewish cemetery, it includes Holocaust memorials and the graves of notable community members, including a Titanic victim, famous authors, and rabbis.

Wise noted that around 62,000 people are buried across the cemetery’s two-million-square-foot grounds, making its maintenance, particularly in the face of climate change, a significant challenge. The Lahaie family takes this responsibility seriously.

“It’s a real family legacy, and they really take care of us,” Wise said.

The Lahaie family even lived on the cemetery grounds. After his uncle offered him a full-time job in November 1975, Lahaie moved in and raised his children there.

A self-described perfectionist, Lahaie worked nearly 70-hour weeks to ensure the cemetery was maintained to his high standards. “Everything has to be right,” he said. His family also oversees the upkeep of the Back-River grounds, which merged with the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery in 2012.