The citizen’s group known as Friends of Toronto Public Cemeteries (FTPC) which contends that Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries (MPGC) is a public trust created through provincial legislation, will be in court Monday, December 16, 2013 to set a date for its application to be heard. An earlier date to hear the matter before the Superior Court of Ontario was set aside after counsel for all parties agreed to both a schedule for submitting responses to FTPC’s application and to transfer the case to the Estates Court. Through their lawyers, MPGC wanted money – an amount finally set at $75,000 – put up as “security for costs.” The money was quickly raised by the citizen group. However, MPGC has not made a response according to the agreed upon schedule and has now decided to challenge the right of FTPC to make the application at all. The matter has dragged on for nearly a decade since MPGC advertised itself as “a commercial privately-owned cemetery.” The issue came to light when MPGC began construction of the visitation centre on Moore Ave. near Welland Ave. FTPC contends that MPGC comprising 10 cemeteries/1,200 acres valued at well over $1 billion has been simply appropriated by MPGC under the nose of a dozy Queen’s Park. And they claim they can prove it.
