Haida Gwaii hot springs. photo by The Canadian Press

After a complaint about a Haida Gwaii man performing funeral services without a licence, Consumer Protection BC sent George Westwood a letter, informing him how he could become licenced.

Consumer Protection BC oversees the funeral industry in the province of British Columbia, Canada.

Westwood, however, said he only had been trying to help families for 30 years living on the northern coastal island because the nearest funeral home was in Prince Rupert. He said he wasn’t interested in doing it as a job.

“Truthfully I’m hurt to the core,” Westwood told CBC news.

“When you give so much of yourself and someone comes up and kicks you in the ribs, it’s just like, ‘Is this really what we’ve become, this is how low we’ve stooped?’ That you cannot help your neighbour when they’re at their worst, they need it most? And you need a piece of paper to be able do that?

“Burying the dead is one of the basic obligations of humanity,” he said. “You can tell a great deal about society with how they deal with their dead.”

The CBC story is here.