As the only funeral home in Greenstone closes, a Thunder Bay business is expanding its reach

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Matt MacKenzie, assistant manager at Everest Funeral Chapel in Thunder Bay, Ont., says the business is happy to expand into the Greenstone area to help families have funeral services closer to home.

In the last month, Geraldton, Ont., has received news that it's losing its only funeral home, Beer Store, and an auto shop. While Everest Funeral Chapel in Thunder Bay, Ont., is stepping in to provide services in the area, the mayor of the Municipality of Greenstone says more efforts are needed to recruit and retain young workers, especially with the opening of the new Equinox Gold mine.

About 4,700 people live in Greenstone, which encompasses Beardmore, Caramat, Geraldton, Jellicoe, Longlac, MacDiarmid, Nakina and Orient Bay. The municipality spans more than 3,100 square kilometres. Fawcett Funeral Home in Geraldton, Ont., serves the Municipality of Greenstone as well as six surrounding First Nations. It is closing at the end of the month, as the owner is retiring.

Everest is renting out space in Gélineault's garage in Geraldton to serve as a hub, and has also added more all-wheel drive vehicles to its fleet. It's also renting an apartment for staff to use when they come up from Thunder Bay to offer services in Greenstone, MacKenzie said. James McPherson, mayor of Greenstone, says community partners are ramping up efforts to train the next generation of workers in order to fill jobs at Geraldton's hospital and the new Equinox Gold mine.

"We have a huge hole of available workers, and so with that, people are coming in from outside to work and then going back to their homes."

 

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