Director at Transcona funeral home has licence suspended

Wheeler Funeral Home, Cemetery and Crematorium was placed into court-ordered receivership on March 20, 2018.

The Funeral Board of Manitoba (FBOM) has suspended Chad R. G. Wheeler’s licence to provide funeral or embalming services pending a hearing.

Wheeler was the funeral director at Wheeler Funeral Home, Cemetery and Crematorium which was placed into court-ordered receivership on March 20. Lazer Grant Inc. was appointed as the receiver.

In April, CTV reported that people who had prepaid for services from the funeral home were getting help with alternate arrangements. Joel Lazar, managing partner at Lazer Grant, said 300 customers had prepaid for funerals and around $900,000 was being held in trust for those services.

FBOM said the last time Wheeler Funeral Home was issued a licence to provide prepaid funerals was for the 2014/2015 period. Lazer said it wasn’t clear when the prepaid funerals were purchased.

The Winnipeg Police Service has confirmed the financial crimes unit is looking into concerns regarding Wheeler Funeral Home.

In July, another complaint surfaced about the funeral home after a family discovered an urn that was supposed to hold their mother’s remains was empty.

The family used an independent funeral director who arranged for cremation through Wheeler Funeral Home.

- With files from CTV’s Josh Crabb and Gabrielle Marchand