Private viewing before cremation — Montreal, Laval and the South Shore
The Essential Plus Cremation package: $2,490, plus taxes. Everything the Essential package carries — including the whole of the government paperwork — with the time to see your loved one one last time added to it, in a closed room that opens to no one but you.
What the extra $695 buys
Not an object. Time in front of the person.
That is the difference between the Essential package and this one, and it is the only difference. Secure temporary shelter, the care needed for presentation, a private viewing on a draped bed, and one hour of private time for up to ten people.
We say it plainly because we see it every week: this is the moment families most often regret not having taken. Almost never the reverse.
Why seeing matters
The head knows the person is dead. The heart takes longer. Standing in front of someone you loved shifts something that no words shift: death stops being information and becomes a reality.
What you left at the hospital was their illness. They were never only that. Presentation care exists to give you back the person as they lived, rather than as their last weeks left them — because it is the last image that stays, and no one chooses to forget it.
And here you can touch. At the hospital you stopped daring: it hurt. Here, nothing hurts any more.
What the package includes — $2,490, plus taxes
- Professional accompaniment: support, planning and coordination
- Transport of the decedent from the home, the hospital, the long-term care centre or the residence, within a 50 km radius of Montreal
- Secure temporary shelter
- Care needed for presentation: preparation, hair, dressing
- Private viewing on a draped bed, in a closed room
- One hour of private gathering, for up to ten people
- Identification by photograph, offered at no charge, remotely and on request
- Basic cremation container
- Cremation
- Biodegradable scattering urn
- Placing the ashes in the urn, identification medallion and entry in the register
- Delivery of the urn and the documents to your home
With taxes added, the package comes to $2,862.88. The Quebec Pension Plan death benefit, even paid at its maximum amount of $2,500, leaves $362.88 to your charge. We prefer to tell you here rather than when the invoice arrives — and to remind you that this benefit is never automatic: it requires that the person who died contributed enough to the Plan, and it is taxable in the income of the estate. We apply for it on your behalf, at no charge.
The same formalities, at no extra charge
Nothing is removed from the administrative work: this package includes exactly the same steps as the Essential package.
Death and cremation
- Declaration of death, attestations of death
- Cremation request and cremation certificate
- Ordering the official death certificates and the act of death from the Registrar of Civil Status
- Publication of the death notice on our platforms, on request
Death benefit
- Application, in your name, for the Quebec Pension Plan death benefit
- Issuing the official receipt for funeral expenses paid
Cancellations
- Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec health insurance card, social insurance number, driver's licence
- Housing allowance, hunting licence and firearms possession licence, passport
- GST and QST accounts, Retraite Québec pension, allowances from the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity
Tax notices and follow-up
- Notices to Revenu Québec and to the Canada Revenue Agency
- Secure Estate Assistance platform: follow the file in real time, more than thirty letter templates for settling the estate, and grief resources
How to prepare for a private viewing
- Bring clothing. What looks like the person: the Sunday shirt, the favourite sweater, what they would have worn to receive guests. Add their perfume if you have it — smell is the sense that holds on longest.
- Bring a photograph. We do not promise to reproduce it; we promise it will not be the image of the last breath.
- Think about who to invite. Brothers and sisters, who were in their life before you were. Grandchildren, so often kept away to protect them. The colleague of thirty years. Ten places is few — but the question cannot be asked again afterwards.
- Write down what there was no time to say. A letter placed beside your loved one, including when the relationship was a difficult one. There is anger to be set down too, and it is better set down there.
And if you do not want to see them, that is your right. No one will push you into that room. We will tell you plainly why we recommend it, we will answer whatever frightens you — and then we will respect your decision, whatever it is. The Essential package, without a viewing, at $1,795 plus taxes, exists for exactly that.
Where we work
Montreal and the Plateau-Mont-Royal, Laval, and on the South Shore: Longueuil, Brossard, Saint-Lambert, Boucherville, La Prairie, Candiac and Chambly. In the West Island: Pointe-Claire, Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Kirkland. Transport is included within a 50 km radius of Montreal; beyond that, travel fees are added and are quoted to you before signing, never after.
Why entrust this moment to us
A founder trained in presentation. Pierre-Maxime Fugère, CFSP, a thanatologist for 30 years, holds a diploma in thanatology from Collège de Rosemont and in anatomy from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, and is certified in post-mortem reconstructive surgery by the Fountain National Academy. It is precisely that training that decides what a family sees when they walk into the room.
A transporter authorized by the Office of the Chief Coroner of Quebec, which lets us act as soon as the mandate is entrusted to us.
First in Montreal on all four independent rankings published in 2026.
- The 5 Best Cremation Services in MontrealClever Canadian · 2026
- Montreal's 5 Best Funeral ServicesClever Canadian · 2026
- Montreal's top 6 cremation services for a smooth send-offBestInMTL · 2026
- Top 6 Montreal funeral services that put compassion firstBestInMTL · 2026
Our business also maintains a perfect rating of 5.0 out of 5 stars across 26 Google reviews.
Let us talk before the question closes.
Call us at 514 914-2106, at any hour. A private viewing is decided in the first few days; it cannot be taken again afterwards.
See the Essential Plus packageOnline Funeral Services.ca — Peace of mind at the best price.
Funeral services business holding licence 25FUN0002, issued by Santé Québec, and registered in Quebec under enterprise number (NEQ) 1180480882. Funeral transporter authorized by the Office of the Chief Coroner of Quebec. In accordance with section 39 of the Act respecting prearranged funeral services and sepultures, our price list is available to the public at all times. Prices shown are before taxes. The fees of the Registrar of Civil Status are added: $37.75 for the death certificate and $46.75 for the copy of the act, which we request for you.
Frequently asked questions about the private viewing
What exactly does a private viewing involve?
Your loved one is prepared — presentation care, hair, dressing — then laid on a draped bed in a closed room that opens to no one but you. You have one hour of private time together, for up to ten people.
This is not a public visitation with a register and a procession of visitors. It is a closed moment, with no schedule to keep in front of others and no one to greet at the door.
Does choosing this package cost me anything on the administrative side?
Nothing at all. This package carries every piece of the work done under the Essential package, at no extra charge: declaration of death, attestations, cremation request and certificate, ordering the death certificates and the act of death from the Registrar of Civil Status, the death benefit application to Retraite Québec, and the official receipt for funeral expenses paid.
Then the cancellations: health insurance card, social insurance number, driver's licence, housing allowance, hunting licence, firearms possession licence, passport, GST and QST accounts, Retraite Québec pension, and allowances from the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity. Plus notices to Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency. The Estate Assistance platform is included as well.
Do we need to bring clothing?
Yes, and it is one of the few things we ask of you. Choose what looks like the person: the Sunday shirt, the favourite sweater, what they would have worn to receive guests. Add their perfume or cologne if you have it.
Smell is the sense that holds on longest. Many families tell us, months later, that it was the scent they found again that settled them, far more than the image did.
Am I allowed to touch my loved one?
Yes. Holding a hand, kissing a forehead, putting a lock of hair back in place: none of it is forbidden and none of it is out of place. At the hospital you stopped daring to touch because it hurt. Here, nothing hurts any more.
Some families ask to take part in the last gestures — the hair, a shave someone never had time to finish. Tell us: it can be arranged, and those are often the gestures people remember.
What if illness changed them a great deal?
That is precisely what presentation care exists for. The person you left at the hospital was their illness; they were never only that.
Bring us a photograph. We will not promise to reproduce the photograph — that would be dishonest. But we can promise you one thing: it will not be the image of the last breath. That is the image that stays when nothing is done, and it is the one that weighs the longest.
What if I am afraid to see them?
That fear is common and there is nothing abnormal about it. Tell us what worries you: we will explain exactly what you will see, in what order, and you can go in with someone beside you.
And you have the right not to want to. No one will push you into that room. We will tell you plainly why we recommend it, and then we will respect your decision, whatever it is.
Can children be present?
Yes, and experience shows it is better to include them than to keep them away. A child kept away fills the gaps with imagination, and what they invent is almost always worse than the reality.
What matters is that they know in advance what they will see, in simple, truthful words, and that they can leave whenever they want. A drawing, a card, a letter tucked beside a grandparent: children often find the right gesture on their own.
Can we leave a letter or an object?
Yes. A letter, a photograph, an object that mattered, a note from a grandchild who could not come. Writing down what there was no time to say is one of the most useful gestures we know of, including — and especially — when the relationship was a difficult one.
Not every grief is a tender grief. There is anger to be set down too, and it is better set down there than carried for years.
Who should I think of inviting?
More people than you think. The brothers and sisters of the person who died, who were in their life before you were. The grandchildren, who are so often protected by being kept away. The colleague of thirty years, the neighbours, the Tuesday group.
Ten places is few, and it is deliberately few: this is an intimate moment. But ask yourself the question before you settle the list, because it cannot be asked again afterwards.
Does a private viewing replace a funeral?
No, and nothing requires you to decide that now. The private viewing answers the most urgent need: to see, to touch, to take it in. A larger celebration can follow weeks or months later, when the family is available and you have the strength to organize it.
The 72 hours after a death are the worst hours in which to decide everything. Do what cannot wait, and keep the rest for later.
What happens if the death is referred to the coroner?
The file then follows its own schedule, and the date of the viewing depends on authorization from the Coroner's Office. We are a funeral transporter authorized by the Office of the Chief Coroner of Quebec, which lets us act as soon as the mandate is entrusted to us.
Even when the circumstances are difficult, something is almost always still possible. A hand, hair, a brief presence: that is often enough for the mind to take it in. Talk to us before giving up on it.
Essential Plus Cremation Package with Private Viewing Before Cremation
Our Package included:
- Transportation of the decedent within a 50 km radius of Montreal
- Secure temporary shelter
- Decedent care and preparation for presentation
- Private viewing on a draped bed
- One-hour private gathering for up to 10 people
- Basic cremation container
- Cremation
- Biodegradable scattering urn included
- Full administrative support and legal formalities handled
- Urn personally delivered to the home
No additional fees. Package reimbursable by the $2,500 government death benefit.
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