Families whose prepaid funeral money has gone missing say they are frustrated at the time it is taking to get answers about how and when to get that money back.
More than a dozen alleged victims of Lowell Oakes, the former owner of the Dawson Funeral Home in Crapaud, were in provincial court on Wednesday.
The funeral home closed last year after hundreds of thousands of dollars in customer funds disappeared.
Money to fund dozens of prepaid funerals should be raised from Dawson Funeral Home Ltd. be administered in trust.
But owner Lowell Oakes now faces 66 fraud charges pending in criminal courts and a number of claims in small claims courts.
His funeral home license was revoked in March 2022, and he was fined $10,000 at the time.
Oakes was absent from the courtroom Wednesday and his attorney requested an adjournment.
Judge Nancy Orr said the matter had been in court for some time and this was Oakes’ sixth court date since last October.
“It is time for this matter to move forward one way or another,” Orr said.
Oakes’ case has been adjourned until next month. The charges against Oakes have not been tested in court.
‘Very disappointed’
Peter Norring was among those in the courtroom – standing up for his mother-in-law. He said the group went to court hoping the matter would move forward.
“We weren’t surprised but we were all very disappointed,” he said.
The group gathered outside the courthouse to express their frustration at the time it is taking for the matter to go through the court.
“There are just no words”
For Susan MacKay, the wait was painful.
She said her mother-in-law — who spent $10,000 on a prepaid funeral from Dawson’s funeral home — died last year.
“My husband and I are her only family, so my husband and I had to take money from our personal pension fund to pay for her funeral,” MacKay said.
“There are simply no words to describe how we felt. Dealing with the grief beyond that was just really difficult.”
Jackie Molyneaux said the group would like to see the government step in to help people who have lost money and introduce more legal protections to prevent this from happening to others.
“A lot of these people are seniors, they can’t afford to pay for their funerals again. They are on pensions and have worked really hard to save enough money so their loved ones won’t have to pay for them. ” She said.
“All we ask is to help get the lost money back.”
A provincial spokesman told CBC there would be no further comment as the matter is before the court.
Oakes is expected to return to provincial court on March 20.
