Park Lawn Cemetery is a large cemetery in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It currently has around 22,000 graves. It is managed by the Park Lawn Corporation, which also runs five other cemeteries in Toronto. The cemetery offers ground burials and a mausoleum for above-ground interment and cremation urns. It is located south of Bloor Street, west of the Humber River.
Park Lawn Cemetery & Mausoleum opened in 1892 as Humbervale Cemetery and was owned by local farmers in the area. It was sold in 1912 and again in 1915 to Park Lawn Cemetery Company, and was renamed to the current name. In 1999, Park Lawn opened Paradise Mausoleum; phase two of Paradise Mausoleum was completed in 2007.
In 1995, a section of the cemetery was re-zoned to permit construction of a condominium building. While the building was opposed by lot owners, the Ontario Municipal Board approved the project. The cemetery has twice been attacked by vandals, once in 1990 and again in 2006. Both times several youths were convicted of damaging or toppling several hundred stones.
The cemetery contains a mass grave containing the remains of 75 "home children" from Britain.
Park Lawn Corporation is a Canadian provider of funeral, cremation, and cemetery services headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1892 as the operator of Park Lawn Cemetery in Toronto, the company expanded over time through acquisitions and the development of additional funeral homes and cemeteries. The corporation operates a network of funeral homes, cemeteries, crematoria, and related memorial services across Canada and the United States.
Park Lawn listed its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2016 and subsequently expanded through acquisitions in both Canada and the United States. By the mid-2020s, the company operated approximately 176 funeral homes and 76 cemeteries across Ontario, Quebec, and numerous U.S. states.
In 2002, Park Lawn Corporation purchased Westside Cemeteries Ltd. from Service Corporation International, acquiring five cemeteries in the Greater Toronto Area.
The acquisition included:
In 2014, Park Lawn expanded into the funeral home business by purchasing a 50 per cent interest in the Tubman funeral home chain, which operates several funeral homes in Ontario and Quebec. Tubman Funeral Homes was founded in Ottawa in 1921 and is among the oldest funeral service providers in the region.
In 2015, the company acquired Basic Funerals and Cremation Choices, a provider of low-cost funeral and cremation services operating in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area.
In 2016, Park Lawn Corporation listed its shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
During the late 2010s and early 2020s the company pursued an acquisition-driven growth strategy, purchasing funeral homes and cemeteries across Canada and the United States.