Undertaking thanatology studies

According to Martin Trudeau, who has been a thanatologist for eight years, the job encompasses many responsibilities. “It’s a job that is very human. You’re in contact with the family of the deceased, and you have to give moral support. It’s much more than just preparing the body.”

Trudeau, who works at the Mount Royal funeral complex, underlined the importance of his job for the mourning process. “People will come to you, not knowing what to do. They are distressed, because they just lost a loved one. It’s up to us to take charge, in effect taking this worry off the family’s hands. This isn’t something that is always evident, because we’re seen as people who are only out to make money. But that just isn’t the case.”

According to Collège de Rosemont statistics, the base salary for an undertaker in 2006 was between $15.90 and $24.30 an hour.

“It’s far from a lucrative job,” Trudeau said. “You can’t be watching the clock. We work seven days a week and we can be called in night and day. People don’t know very much about the job. So, when we’re talking with people who have just lost someone, we really try to find solutions that are good for them. You have to take time to mourn. I often see people who ask us to get things done as quickly as possible, because they have to go back to work and they don’t have time. But it’s psychologically important to mourn.”

This, however, is becoming less and less the case in today’s society. “In Montreal, especially, people want to get everything done quickly,” he said. “Before, we would have two days of visitation, when people would come together and talk about the deceased. Now, we prefer cremation, because it is fast. You can get back to your routine more quickly. But, the number of people who go see a psychologist in the months that follow is rising. People need to understand how important mourning and celebrating the life of someone who was close to you are.”

“I didn’t want to work in an office and have a regular nine-to-five. I was curious, and I liked biology, so I asked myself, why not? And that’s how it started for me.”

Naturally, telling your parents that you want to become an “embalmer” raises a few eyebrows. “I got a pep talk. My parents wanted to know if I had suicidal thoughts, or if I had dark thoughts. But once I explained it to them, they understood. Not everyone wants to do a job like this… And me, I didn’t want to have an ordinary job.”

(Translated by Elyse Amend)

(Photo: Martin Trudeau)