Couple wants answers on Waterton burial plots

By Lethbridge Herald on August 21, 2025.

Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A couple says Waterton Lakes National Park takes “‘til death do us part” quite literally, with its burial plot regulations allowing only one of them to be buried in the park’s cemetery.

Stephanie Ouellette was raised in Waterton. It was where she went to school, got her first job and eventually met and married the love of her life.

One of her close friends applied for plots for herself and her husband and was approved for both of them within two days. After hearing this, Ouellette assumed it would be a very simple process for her as well.

In January, Ouellette and her husband decided to apply for a graveside certificate to ensure her children wouldn’t have to deal with the stress of setting up the burial of her and her husband after they died.

Ouellette says the application itself was very confusing and even one of the staff members had difficulty helping her.

“The first thing I thought of this application was its really convoluted, it’s hard to understand how to fill out.”

She says the employee helping her fill out the forms encouraged her to write an autobiography to support the application.

Once she submitted the paperwork, she assumed it would be an easy process, but soon weeks turned into months with no answer.

After calling several times, she was encouraged to book a meeting with the superintendent and later received a phone call saying one lot was approved. But the other – the one for Oullette’s husband – was still pending and if they chose to be cremated, they could use the one plot for both of them.

While she was waiting to be approved, Ouellette says she did some research and found out that both Jasper and Banff municipalities manage their graveyards and allow next of kin to be buried together.

Ouellette decided to meet with the superintendent anyway and was told her husband didn’t qualify, so they would either have to be buried elsewhere or separately.

Ouellette says it’s a heartbreaking decision since her grandparents are also buried in Waterton.

“My grandparents are buried there…and I want to be with them, I want to be with my family.”

Ouellette’s husband, a retired RCMP officer, says while they could be buried together with no issues at an RCMP cemeteries but also wants his wife to be happy.

“This is something that’s important to her and she wants to be beside her grandparents…so I’m totally supportive of her.”

Having grown up in Waterton, Ouellette says she respects the sanctity of the park and understands they don’t want to fill up the cemetery, especially with those who didn’t have a physical connection with it. But she feels disrespected with having to choose between being buried next to her companion or with her family in the place where she grew up.

She’s also visited the cemetery and learned that between 2017 and 2025, only seven new plots were created.

The Herald reached out to the superintendent of Waterton for comment and did not receive a statement before press time.

After living in several provinces once her husband retired, they chose to come back to where it all began for them and had plans on having their ending where they began.

While Ouellette accepts that they may not be able to be buried where they had once planned, she hopes that her experience will help change policy for others so they won’t have to experience the same heartbreak.

“At the end of the day I think this is so wrong of them to do this and even if it’s too late for us I (don’t) want other people to walk through those doors and may be in a similar situation to me…that has the same goal and running into the same dilemma.”