WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:19.559 Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio. Welcome to Policy and Rights, 2 00:00:21.160 --> 00:01:00.520 the show about the government policy and human rights. Welcome back everybody. You're 3 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:07.319 listening to Policy and Rights and this is a special interview. And let me 4 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:14.159 start off by saying this. We're hearing a lot about corporate greed and how 5 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:21.959 certain elected officials keep going on and on about how we need to end the 6 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:30.760 corporate greed that exists in our society. Well, when is there're going to 7 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:38.079 be action towards that? When are we going to see something serious happen to 8 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:44.159 take a fight out of that corporate greed. The only way that's really going 9 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:49.760 to happen is if we all start speaking out against what is happening. How 10 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:57.239 limits are put to our lives because we accept a paycheck, How our dreams 11 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:02.239 are crushed because well, our boss doesn't want us to live a live a 12 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:10.360 dream. The large corporations want want to earn wealth from off of everything that 13 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:16.400 we do, and I do mean everything including die. As you're going to 14 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:30.080 hear in this next interview that profit is one thing, raping another person's pocket 15 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:38.599 and spirit is something else. And we hear all the time of we need 16 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:46.120 to get the corporations out of senior care. We need to get to keep 17 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:57.639 a social way of of of administering medicine. If you're listening from the US, 18 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:00.759 we keep hearing how we need to have a national health care system, 19 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:10.800 how we need to have better control over some of the expenses that are out 20 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:21.639 there, and yet our government, our elected officials, do nothing about it. 21 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:30.400 So I want to introduce you to the author of It's Your Funeral. 22 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:39.080 It is a book that is based on a very, very same story that 23 00:03:39.560 --> 00:03:50.919 the movie The Burial has just released. That this story about the o'keefes against 24 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:59.479 a large corporate entity that was literally raping us as we were trying to bury 25 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:06.800 our love ones. We're gonna hear from Tom Creane, the author of It's 26 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:15.719 Your Funeral, talk about how he managed to push back against the corporations and 27 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:26.759 save a group of family owned funeral homes that'll simply want to serve the community 28 00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:33.519 because that is their purpose, to help us honor our loved ones in a 29 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:46.680 loving way and an affordable way, and in some cases maybe even a heavenly 30 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:55.319 way. So why don't we bring Tom Creane on the show and let's hear 31 00:04:55.759 --> 00:05:02.279 what really happened with the o'keefes, and what really is going on with corporate 32 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:15.839 greed in the funeral home industry? Okay, so Tom, why did you 33 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:23.680 write the book It's Your Funeral? Well? To be candid, Michael, 34 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:32.199 I arrived in funeral service quite suddenly when my uncle, who was only fifty 35 00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:39.399 two, dropped dead, and there was nobody to carry on the family business, 36 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:44.720 and we were serving like the year he died nineteen seventy five, we 37 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:50.839 served sixty families, was barely enough to keep the doors open. So I 38 00:05:50.879 --> 00:06:00.160 was in my fourth year of philosophy at UBC and just quit school cold Turkey 39 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:06.720 to take over the family business. And was astonished to find that all these 40 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:15.279 family businesses that my family had been competing with by that time almost seventy years, 41 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:23.759 were all being bought out by these nameless conglomerates. And these conglomerates would 42 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:30.120 charge way more money and cut back half their staff and provide half the service. 43 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.839 So all of a sudden I discovered that in order to survive, I 44 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:42.360 had to draw a distinction between publicly traded funeral companies and family funeral homes, 45 00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:48.800 and so I wrote the book as an explanation of why there's really no place 46 00:06:48.839 --> 00:06:58.160 in my mind for public companies in funeral service. Yeah, it just feeds 47 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:04.639 into that large cauldron of corporate greed that needs needs to find some limits. 48 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:16.920 Well, so why why why re release the book in this past month? 49 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:19.600 You just re released the book? So why did you? Why why did 50 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:26.759 the re release? Well? I think that the book is a very important 51 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:34.000 contextual support for the great film that Amazon is bringing out called The Burial. 52 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:46.240 The Amazon film shows the unlikely partnership between my buddy Jeremiah O'Keefe and the very 53 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:55.120 sassy, provocative but successful Afro American lawyer that he hired out of Florida to 54 00:07:55.240 --> 00:08:01.279 take the Loewen Group to task for the way they were treating his Mississippi UH 55 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:11.600 clients, help mm hmm to where they were they doing the same thing and 56 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:20.360 in in Mississippi that that you described here in Vancouver, raise the prices and 57 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:31.360 and provide less service exactly right. Being a public company isn't cheap, No, 58 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.559 that is very true. But but being a public company can also bring 59 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:46.240 uh, especially to the the the chief executive officer and the boarder director's uh 60 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:54.960 large paychecks. Well, I went to the low and bankruptcy in Wilmington, 61 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:58.120 Delaware, and I'd get out of my taxi from the Holiday Inn and then 62 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:05.480 behind me the limousine would pull up and all the bankruptcy executives from the Loewen 63 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:09.159 Group would pour out of their limousines. They weren't taking much time to save 64 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:18.279 money for their shareholders. I like that. They they they they poured out 65 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:24.240 of their limousines. They It's not like they drove up and say a Toyota 66 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:31.240 cursel or something like that, right, Nope, no, Yeah, you're 67 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:39.440 kind of reminding me of the the auto industry with the when when all of 68 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:43.960 the the the big names in in in the auto industry showed up in Washington 69 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:48.519 to ask for bailout money and they all climbed out of their out of their 70 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:58.279 lear jets in Washington to ask for bailout money because they were going poor. 71 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:03.559 But they a flyer lear jet, right, yeah, no kidding. So 72 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:11.559 it is the same pattern of corporate greed, yeah, and disrespect for the 73 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:22.159 shareholders. Yeah. So with that, with that being said, UH, 74 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:31.519 you appeared in in Ottawa to UH and you successfully pushed back against some of 75 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:37.399 the corporate happenings in Canada with the home funeral UH with the family owned funeral 76 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:45.799 home industry. Right. Yeah. We opposed the biggest funeral conglomerate, Service 77 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:52.279 Corporation International out of Houston, Texas, trademarking in both Canada and the United 78 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:58.600 States the phrase family Funeral Care, and we were successful in defeating them. 79 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:05.440 In Ottawa. We pointed out that these companies were the opposite of fend funeral 80 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:11.159 care. And then when we won that trademark battle in April of two thousand 81 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:18.879 and three, I sent that news rely to eighteen independent groups in the United 82 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:26.000 States that I'd been working with, and none of them had supported my trademark 83 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:33.000 opposition to speak of in the US. But today they saw that Canada beat 84 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.240 SDI, they all joined. So we had thousands of funeral homes by the 85 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:43.279 time that went to court in Washington, DC, and we beat the We 86 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:52.759 beat Service Corporation in Washington as well in twenty oh seven. We Canadians embarrassed 87 00:11:52.799 --> 00:12:03.480 are American peers into standing up for themselves. On a different note, though, 88 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.440 a lot of people are afraid to push back against the corporation. So 89 00:12:07.559 --> 00:12:11.759 you think something bad is going to happen to them, don't they? Well, 90 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:16.159 exactly and that's I think why there's such a reign of terror pervaded upon 91 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:22.320 the people by Wall Street because they think that their economic force makes them more 92 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:28.559 right than we the people. But that fails to take into account what really 93 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:35.960 built these countries, which was we the people. Exactly right, that exactly 94 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:41.799 we the people. We have a voice, but we need to exercise that 95 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:46.919 voice. Well, I have to tell you, Michael, that I've prayed 96 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:52.080 a great deal in my struggles against Wall Street, and I've now had five 97 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:56.440 battles with the billionaires and I've beaten them five times. And in truth, 98 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:03.399 it was me praying my brains out and being told by my creator where to 99 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.759 step each day. All my partners gave up on me during the campaign, 100 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.440 saying, Thomas, only you'd told us what you were doing, we could 101 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:16.200 have supported you. But it was a journey of faith, Michael. I 102 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.519 had no idea what I was doing. How could I tell anybody. I 103 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:22.440 just prayed my brains out and every day was told where to step the next 104 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:28.720 day. And at the end of the day, five battles with the billionaires 105 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:31.039 and beatn them five times, and all of that was due to prayer. 106 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:39.200 Yeah, I'm not this smart. Yeah, sometimes we had to we had 107 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:43.120 to submit to the to to the higher power. Right well, and not 108 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:48.360 only that, a true journey of faith is incredibly exciting. It's really really 109 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:56.720 exciting to have no idea where it's going. Hmm. So what what do 110 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:07.200 you want to see for uh, for the funeral industry overall? Well, 111 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:09.639 first of all, I don't consider us an industry. Wall Street does, 112 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:15.519 but I consider us a profession and as such, I think it's vital that 113 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.480 people know whether they're dealing with a public company, conglomerate, or they're dealing 114 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.159 with a local family funeral home. We local family funeral homes don't have any 115 00:14:24.200 --> 00:14:31.399 assets aside the credibility of our name. So if we don't serve our community, 116 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:35.279 we don't exist. Whereas the public companies, all they've got is a 117 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:39.840 stock average, and so if they're not making profit each day, they don't 118 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:45.039 exist. And that's what I'm saying, is that there's no place at all 119 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:50.960 for that kind of a business model and caring for grieving citizens who just couldn't 120 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.799 possibly be any more vulnerable. Well, the loss of a loved one. 121 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:03.360 It doesn't matter if it's if it's mom, dad, wife, husband, 122 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:11.120 child, it's a it's all all all emostally the same that you know, 123 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:18.840 you're cut down at your knees, right yep, and the last thing you 124 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:28.639 need is some funeral director who is money grubbing and just kicks you and just 125 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:33.759 kicks you in the gut on top of that, right yep. Yeah. 126 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:41.759 And these Wall Street conglomerates, you know, think that they've won the lottery 127 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:52.360 discovering that grieving clients are completely vulnerable. They go around buying these family funeral 128 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:58.840 homes because a lot of them are downtown properties where the humble families that operate 129 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:04.480 the funeral homes can never hope to make any kind of return in funeral service. 130 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:10.559 That justify the millions of dollars in land that they've got invested and tied 131 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:15.279 up. So really, these big funeral conglomerates are in the real estate business. 132 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:21.159 They're not in funeral service. That's my opinion. Well, what does 133 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:23.360 it mean to be in funeral service? What does it mean how you treat 134 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:29.840 your client? Well, what it means is that somebody has a deep personal 135 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:33.720 loss in their family and they come and they knock on your door and you 136 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:41.159 help escort them through that deeply painful process, that deeply painful transition. But 137 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:45.080 if all you're going to be judged by is an amount of sales you make 138 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:53.440 from that person, basically caring for them and caring for yourself are mutually exclusive. 139 00:16:55.399 --> 00:17:03.839 Yeah. So I heard this as a story that a grieving son his 140 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:11.720 mother died and he wanted to honor her in in in the best way possible, 141 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:26.559 and he spent thousands of dollars for for for the casket and for her 142 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:33.319 to to to be laid out in a certain way and everything. And in 143 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:44.240 the end, the the the mother was was cremated and he spent like I 144 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:53.720 say, a couple of ten thousand dollars two for this particular funeral. Now, 145 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:59.680 grenn I know he wanted to honor his mother and expenses at that point, 146 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:07.839 you know, you're like, how can I put a limit to what 147 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:12.000 I'm willing to pay to honor my mother? Right? But at the same 148 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:18.279 time, isn't there if you're on the other side of the counter collecting the 149 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:22.480 money, you're the one taking the fees, didn't you put a limit to 150 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:30.960 what you're going to charge? Well to me, when I sit down with 151 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:36.599 a family to arrange a funeral, service. I view it like I'm an 152 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:42.480 artist, a painter, and my palette of paints is the emotions of the 153 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:49.440 family. So what I'm trying to do is to paint the most complete portrait 154 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:55.839 of the life of the deceased, and to me, a fundamental component of 155 00:18:55.880 --> 00:19:02.480 that is to discover what resources the family have to put towards the funeral. 156 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.079 I've had people walk in the door of my funeral home telling me they want 157 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:11.240 the most expensive casket in the world. Okay, that's not a family that 158 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:17.319 I'm bending over backwards trying to save money for because they got more money then 159 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:25.559 they can send. But to me, the average family coming in has a 160 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:30.680 certain set of parameters which they can work within. So once I find out 161 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:36.240 what the kind of parameters they have to work with, then I can start 162 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:45.160 to make suggestions to get as close to achieving the most meaningful service as possible. 163 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.240 And there's now like when it comes to cremation, there's a number of 164 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:55.759 areas that my profession has adapted itself to which help the families. For example, 165 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:00.400 our most popular casket for cremation families is a rental casket where they have 166 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:12.359 a wooden interior and then you put a beautiful wooden sort of a it's almost 167 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:17.559 like a it's a covering really, so that the public all sees this beautiful 168 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:22.079 wooden casket, but what goes to the crematorium is a very simple plane, 169 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:27.920 usually a particleboard box. But nobody sees that because the cast gets beautifully draped. 170 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:33.680 And so there are ways that the profession is figuring out how to honor 171 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:41.759 families wishes without spending more money than is necessary. Yeah, but to me, 172 00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:48.119 the more complete that painting is, the more vital and the more value 173 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:56.000 what I provided has, then that makes sense. That makes sense rather than 174 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:07.240 oh how much can I so soak this family for well, from my point 175 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:18.319 of view, my family since nineteen oh eight, my family has focused on 176 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:23.880 getting the maximum amount of value out of the minimum amount of money, and 177 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:27.680 that's why we're the only family funeral home left in the city of Vancouver. 178 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:33.599 In fact, at the hundredth anniversary of the BC Funeral Association, it was 179 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:38.960 also the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Whoever, the bizarre 180 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:45.920 convention arranger was decided to serve us the same lunch at the hundredth anniversary funeral 181 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:52.880 convention as they served the family the passengers on the Titanic. I don't know 182 00:21:53.559 --> 00:21:59.599 who the convention organizer was. Seemed to me it was more of a horror 183 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:03.920 production. And anyway, that evening at the dinner, all of these past 184 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:10.039 presidents of the Funeral Association, most of whom I've embarrassed in the media because 185 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:14.799 everybody knows I don't why to report reporters to protect people that I think belong 186 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:19.160 in prison, and all of these past presidencies don't like me very much, 187 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:25.240 had to make room because my family was the only founding member of the BC 188 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:32.960 Funeral Association still in business that's on creative sense of game. Uh that that 189 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:41.119 that is God sense of humor on that one. So that was a great 190 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:48.119 day for the National Funeral President. Yeah, and I know that that your 191 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:59.680 family has a property not too far away from from our studio office here in 192 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:08.440 Surrey, b C. Right. Yeah, uh in you it's it's instilled 193 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:14.920 in in in, in in everybody that works in uh uh in in that 194 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:22.480 family business. That value to to the client in honor, uh in honoring 195 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:27.200 the the loved one that is lost, rather than we got to make a 196 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:41.559 profit. Absolutely, to me, that portrait of the deceased, that's my 197 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:47.359 signature. How do I engineer for that family the most meaningful Fairwell, that's 198 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:52.039 physically possible. And I mean there there's times when we've done services for free 199 00:23:52.079 --> 00:24:03.160 because the family had no resources. That's not that often in Canada because the 200 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:10.359 government has support for people that don't have resources. But we've still done them. 201 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:19.519 We don't turn anyone away. Yeah, what does it mean to you 202 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:33.640 to serve the community. It's it's why I was born my profession. Like, 203 00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:41.200 I just consider myself so unbelievably privileged to be given this profession. And 204 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:47.319 I add to that that my profession for my entire working lifetime has been under 205 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:56.240 threat from these external forces that are only profit driven. And so I just 206 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:00.799 can't tell you how proud I am a fifty the years of standing up against 207 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:10.599 the monstrosity. I'm so proud of the contribution that I've been empowered to make. 208 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:14.519 And again I add, it's all a journey of faith, because I'm 209 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:21.599 not this smart. I've been gifted by prayer with exactly what to do to 210 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:29.480 deep these companies five times in a row. Yeah, that's that's an amazing 211 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:34.559 track record, because there's I'm sorry. That's an amazing track record. And 212 00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:40.799 it can't be done with with without with without without some some other power getting 213 00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:48.400 involved, right, no question. And the interesting thing about my past is 214 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:56.000 that today, as all our information systems are crumbling, like everybody and their 215 00:25:56.039 --> 00:26:04.079 brother thinks they're an activist, whereas I really am. I've been an activist 216 00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:08.240 because fifty years ago I learned that the people who ran big funeral service where 217 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:17.160 a bunch of mafia dooms. Yeah, and you wrote the book them for 218 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:22.440 that reason. It's your funeral. Yeah, How grieving families are exploited and 219 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:29.960 how to stop it? Well, in your opinion, what is what is 220 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:37.519 the best way that we can eliminate the shackles that that this corporate breed puts 221 00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:45.839 on us. Well, the most important thing is that it's required by law 222 00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:52.319 that these conglomerates admit which companies they own, because what they do is they 223 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:57.920 try to pretend they're the original owners. We call it stealth ownership. You 224 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:03.519 got to ask who owns your funeral home? Is it some foreign conglomerate or 225 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:08.559 is it your local family. It's the most important question you can ask. 226 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:18.960 Well, yeah, yeah, I see that, because you're choice you can 227 00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:23.920 go it, yeah and be personally cared for by people that are the same 228 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:29.839 mindset as me, or you can be part of the funeral factory. Well 229 00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:36.839 yeah, let's let's let's go to add it this way, right that maybe 230 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:44.880 in some cases, uh that you know, the guy comes it comes it 231 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:48.720 comes in or or woman doesn't matter, they come in, they come into 232 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:53.480 into your business and they say, hey, mom, dad, brother, 233 00:27:53.640 --> 00:28:00.799 sister has passed away and I need to need I need help taking care of 234 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:06.759 this. Right, the odds are if if the funeral home is family owned 235 00:28:06.839 --> 00:28:10.880 and exists in the community, that they know who the person is to begin 236 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:18.160 with, especially if it's the funeral home up the street from from from where 237 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:22.480 this person grew up all their life, right, right, doesn't that have 238 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:27.960 an have an effect on you have some sort of if you know, if 239 00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:32.799 you if you've seen this person like go to the grocery store or something like 240 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:37.880 that, that you have somewhat of an emotional stake in that because you're part 241 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:45.000 of that community. Then the corporate guy who the corporate owned owned funeral home 242 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:52.759 doesn't have that same stake, does it. Well, A big part of 243 00:28:52.799 --> 00:29:06.200 the corporate presence is to simulate the family presence. So when the corporation comes 244 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:10.200 in and buys the funeral home, they try really hard to keep the original 245 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:18.039 family working there, but the prices are still increase a great deal. I 246 00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:23.920 think the last comparative price list I saw was Vanity Fair magazine, like twenty 247 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.480 years ago. On average, I think the average you know back then sold 248 00:29:29.519 --> 00:29:36.440 for thirty five hundred and on average the change were thirteen hundred dollars more expensive, 249 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:45.680 So that's like fifty percent. Wow. So no matter who you're dealing 250 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:52.279 with, you got to understand what kind of system you're dealing with. You 251 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:56.519 maybe still be talking to the original family owners, but they've got very little 252 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:03.200 to do with how it's run anymore. But in support of my family funeral 253 00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:08.319 homes, I need to say that at the peak of funeral consolidation, which 254 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:15.240 was about the year two thousand, Service Corps International had fifty two hundred funeral 255 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:22.160 homes and cemeteries. The Loewen Group had seventeen hundred, and Stewart Enterprises had 256 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:29.920 five hundred. Those were the big three chains. So of those seven thousand 257 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:37.000 and changed funeral homes. The last time I looked, Service Corp International had 258 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:42.680 bought Stuart and the Alderwoods Group, which was the name that Loan emerged from 259 00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:49.079 bankruptcy with, and were down to twelve hundred funeral homes in cemeteries. So 260 00:30:49.759 --> 00:31:02.640 of all of the funeral homes and cemetery that that the three chains had bought 261 00:31:02.680 --> 00:31:07.680 from the family funeral homes, or in my lingo, of the all of 262 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:14.039 the funeral homes Wall Street stole from the family funeral homes, we independence had 263 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:19.240 clawed back seventy percent of them. And I defy any I defy any factor 264 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:25.680 of the economy to show me that kind of performance in defending their communities. 265 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:30.880 Now, most of my funeral home friends didn't do that by going out like 266 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.519 I did and starting a family funeral home movement to educate the public that the 267 00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.799 difference. Most of them just woke up in the morning and did the right 268 00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:42.559 thing. But when you show up in small town America or small town Canada 269 00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:47.559 and all of a sudden the prices had doubled in half, the staff are 270 00:31:47.640 --> 00:31:52.559 like, oh, the small towns figure it out, and they've sent those 271 00:31:52.559 --> 00:31:59.759 funeral homes packing. So I'm incredibly proud of the way that we family funerals 272 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:05.440 of the defended our community even though you're hard put defined. You know, 273 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.359 a single family general home who knows that because they just kept doing what they'd 274 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:15.000 always done, which was the right thing. Yeah, so let me ask 275 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:21.200 you this. In your opinion, you know, you successfully pushed back against 276 00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:30.240 five times against large corporate ownership and everything in our times they we're seeing right 277 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:35.400 now with the economy and the inflation being what it is. In your opinion, 278 00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:43.920 do you think that that we can push back and successfully teach other corporations 279 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.640 and CEOs that hey, we're not going to stand for them just reaping our 280 00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:52.240 pockets and and we're not gonna, We're not gonna. We're just not gonna 281 00:32:52.240 --> 00:33:00.559 take it anymore. And either you service at a reasonable cost or we're going 282 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:08.799 somewhere else. Well, Michael, in truth, I've devoted my entire life 283 00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:16.559 to trying to organize independent business. And you may be aware of a group 284 00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:22.359 I started in Vancouver working with all of the different and the life care community 285 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:29.559 group that's called the Partners in Care Alliance Society. And that's what helped me 286 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:37.799 when all of these battles with the billionaires in my city. But sadly, 287 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:44.640 I just went on a tour of three funeral conventions, talking to independence at 288 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:50.720 each of these conventions about us standing up and trying to organize an independent business 289 00:33:50.759 --> 00:33:55.359 front for family funeral homes. And I couldn't get any interest at all from 290 00:33:55.440 --> 00:34:01.559 my peers because in each of their communities those groups have been successful, so 291 00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:07.960 they don't see any need to organize against Wall Street, Whereas in my town, 292 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:13.000 I'm the only one left. We had to organize against Wall Street. 293 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:16.920 But you know, if the consensus of my profession is nobody gives the up, 294 00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:24.039 well, then we probably can't continue the partners in Caroliance either. I'm 295 00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:30.719 waiting to hear from the local hospices here whether they want to carry on with 296 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:37.159 what we've been doing in the last thirty years. Yeah, the public here 297 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:45.119 knows the differences there, but that's not the case in any other of the 298 00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:47.960 cities in North America. Did generally to me the target cities or cities with 299 00:34:47.960 --> 00:34:53.679 more than a million people, because that's where the cutoff is for big business 300 00:34:53.719 --> 00:35:01.000 to become anonymous in small towns. Every real he figures it out. Yeah, 301 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:10.320 all right, Well, thank you for for joining us today, Tom 302 00:35:10.440 --> 00:35:19.559 and and I hope everybody goes out you can find it on Amazon. It's 303 00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:27.280 Your Funeral is the name of the book, and the official author is Thomas 304 00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:34.880 P. J. Crean. Is that correct? Yeah, so available on 305 00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:38.119 Amazon. Yeah, so go get your copy of the of the book. 306 00:35:38.519 --> 00:35:45.199 And it actually, uh the book itself. From from what I've read so 307 00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:50.280 far, it does kind of paint a picture of some of the reasons why 308 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:55.480 the cost of the cost of living is what it is right now, and 309 00:35:55.519 --> 00:36:00.679 how we can actually maybe put an end to it, and and when some 310 00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:08.039 of our are are herd earned dreams back again from large corporations. So again, 311 00:36:08.119 --> 00:36:13.639 Tom, thanks for joining us. It's been quite honored to have you. 312 00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.679 Thank you. Michael. I just run and really recommend to people that 313 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:25.360 they take the time to check out the movie The Burial being listed on Amazon 314 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:30.360 I think on the thirteenth of October, Is that correct, Michael, Yeah, 315 00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:36.800 I think so. Yeah. Yeah. And the film begs a very 316 00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:39.480 interesting question, and that is what is the power of the people. The 317 00:36:39.559 --> 00:36:49.400 people were able to exercise a punitive vote in the Mississippi courts. That just 318 00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:54.559 it was the most blinding flash of democracy I've ever seen in my entire life. 319 00:36:55.280 --> 00:37:01.199 But to me, it was well earned. See Tommy Lee Jones and 320 00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:07.000 Jamie Foxx in the burial. But if you want to know some background, 321 00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.440 check out my book. All right, all right, thanks again, Tom 322 00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:17.599 and thank everybody for listening, and we will see you next time with another 323 00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:59.400 as special interview here on policy and rights. This show has been produced by 324 00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:06.320 Depicts Media. Please contact us at depictions dot media for more information.