BY ALYSSA MAHADEO
Everything that lives in this world will someday come to pass. Thinking about life after death, can sometimes be an overwhelming and depressing notion especially for the loved ones we leave behind. The life, legacy and memories you leave behind is what people will remember after we leave this earth and it is important that we give our loved ones the send off they deserve to ensure we too can receive the closure we need to continue our own journey in this lifetime.
A local funeral home is a very necessary part of any community and this is something that Co-owner and Principal Inderjit Singh Bal recognized when he decided to acquire and establish not one but two funeral homes and crematoriums in the GTA. With locations in both Brampton and Ajax these facilities provide a variety of necessary services to the communities in the Greater Toronto Area such as burial services, cremation services, memorial services and celebrations of life.
Bal immigrated to Canada in 1976 and as a former community leader and long-time member of the Ottawa based World Sikh Organization, one of his responsibilities was to accompany families to make funeral arrangements for the dearly departed.
Over the years as the community continued to grow, he realized that they weren’t receiving the funeral services they deserved. Many of the funeral home and visitation centers were small facilities, unable to accommodate large families in the space provided. Funerals became expensive and families were forced to travel 15-20km to the nearest cremation grounds during a very stressful tragic time since cremation services were not located on site.
Almost ten years ago, Bal and his partners began looking into acquiring a piece of land. They proceeded to purchase and start building what has become one of the biggest funeral homes in North America at 27,000 sq.ft. Operation began at the Brampton location in November 2012. The Brampton facility houses three spacious chapels and their biggest room can accommodate up to 450 guests. The Ajax Crematorium is built on a 10,000 sq.ft. area also with three visitation rooms which can also comfortably accommodate over 500 guests.
The East Indian and West Indian communities are very immersed in their faith, culture, religion and traditions and as with many religious backgrounds funerals hold a lot of meaning to how someone will pass into the afterlife. The dominant communities of Gujrati, Sikh, Jain, Bengali, Sinhalese, Tamil, Hindu, and Muslim continue to observe these traditions and the Ajax and Brampton funeral homes are dedicated to helping them carry on their inherited values in all of their funeral proceedings.
At the Brampton and Ajax Crematorium and Visitation Centers they understand how difficult it is to lose a loved one. Their compassionate and caring team works around the clock each day to ensure that members of the community are taken care of during such a difficult time. All the staff are certified funeral directors with extensive knowledge on all services provided at each facility so they can provide advice on what steps to take when a loved one has passed away, tailoring each service to fit your needs.
Each facility is modern, multicultural and multilingual. The entryway of both funeral homes is a grand reception hall with beautiful high ceilings and a natural light filled atrium. There are rooms for families to host dinners and luncheons to converse and reminisce or stay during a wake. The visitation centers are decorated with colourful scenic paintings and landscapes, that immediately raise the energy of the establishment to help ease the grief of their guests, and each chapel is equipped with video screens and projectors, as well as Wi-Fi for live castings and digital media capabilities so that even family members living abroad can attend the memorial service through video conferencing.
“When someone in the family passes away, our center is the only call that people have to make,” Bal assured explaining the easy and stress free process of making funeral and memorial arrangements with their facility.
Letting go of a loved one is a very difficult process and to provide your family peace-of-mind, Brampton and Ajax Crematorium & Visitation Centres offers complete care, so that you can focus on comforting your loved ones as you prepare to say goodbye to someone dear to you. When it comes time to make the decision regarding the funeral home you will trust to care for a loved one or to take care of your pre-planning arrangements, they offer the following services with regards to Immediate Need, Pre-arrangements, Obituaries and Memorial Tributes.
Their wide range of funeral services cater to every culture and religion to ensure that each family is treated with the utmost care, dignity and respect during the funerals. Each funeral service can be customized to each family’s needs to include burial or graveside services, creations services, memorial services and even specialty funeral services for veterans, ash scattering and memorialization.
The Brampton and Ajax Crematorium and Visitation center offers services 24 hours a day seven days a week. They promise to work with you and your family during your time of need to create the perfect memorial service for your loved one. They provide grief and guidance services to help ease the process with advice on dealing with death and grief, what to expect on the day of the service, funeral etiquette, legal and estate guidance as well as how to write a eulogy and obituary.
Passage to the afterlife doesn’t have to be a daunting task if you have the proper guidance on sharing and planning final rites. Their state of the art crematorium and expertise offers everything under one roof and they pride themselves in their ability to best cater to your family’s needs. The Brampton Crematorium and Visitation center is located at 30 Bramwin Court at Torbram and Steeles, proudly serving the communities of Brampton, Peel, Bramalea, Caledon, Bolton, Vaughan. In Ajax, you can find them at 384 Finley Avenue promising the same expertise and service to the Pickering, Whitby, Markham, Oshawa, Bowmanville and Scarborough communities.
Passage to the afterlife is a beautiful rekindling, capturing and cherishing of fond family memories forever. Whether you’d like a funeral or a more creative celebration of life, they can assist you to select the funeral service options that hold the most meaning for you and your family. They will be your guide and your ally whenever and however much you need them, they are there to support you in making each final planning decision.
