Tag Archives: Emma Tius

The Cortes DeathCaring Collective

(A five part series airing daily on CKTZ ,89.5 FM, April 4-8, 2023.)

For the last several years, a small but dedicated group of Cortes Islanders have been taking practical steps towards an ambitious goal for themselves and their community: a healthier relationship with death and dying. Their projects include regular meetings for discussion and support, humane and family-led funeral arrangements, and green (natural) burials in our local cemeteries.

The DeathCaring Collective was kickstarted by Margaret Verschuur, in collaboration with Quadra Island’s similar effort (Way To Go). The two groups share an informational website, communityleddeathcare.ca, and the Cortes group now includes over a dozen volunteers and a larger membership connected by email list and regular meetings. The core group of volunteers offer several kinds of assistance for islanders dealing with a death (or anticipated death) in the family.

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Folk U: Natural Burial & Community-Led Deathcare

Natural Burial & Community-Led Deathcare: FolkU Radio@89.5FM

Where we ask our neighbours: What do you know?  It’s that time of year when the light is short and the natural world around is  in its big rest, preparing for transformation. I feel particularly appreciate to be spending this season in this strange and tumultuous time, here on this island, surrounded by the natural world and by this community. Margaret Verschuur helped bring together the Cortes Island Deathcare Initiative and has served as a death doula on Cortes and Quadra Islands. In this episode she and Emma Tius, the new contact person for the Death-Care Collective, to discuss what community death care are and what natural burial looks like on Cortes and Quadra Islands. 

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