The number of bodies that go unclaimed every year in Ontario continues to reach new record levels, according to the latest figures from the Office of the Chief Coroner.
In 2019, 438 bodies recovered across the province went unspoken for. That's despite the efforts of health-care professionals and the coroner's office to find next of kin or another "claimant."
After the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual number of unclaimed bodies in Ontario surged in 2020 to a then record high of 691 — and that sombre statistic has only continued to climb each following year.
Last year, 1,710 bodies went unclaimed in the province — more than triple the number recorded in 2019.
It wasn't always like this. Though the numbers have been trending upward since 2008, the period between 2019 and 2025 betrays an unmistakable escalation.
"The first thought is obviously there's some socio-economic issues involved," said Craig Boals, general manager of Cataraqui Cemetery and Funeral Services in Kingston.
There are many reasons provided by the coroner's office for why bodies ultimately go unclaimed.
The breakdown of factors differs from region to region. The majority of unclaimed deceased have next of kin, but relatives are sometimes unable to claim the body for such reasons as financial constraints, health-related difficulties and estrangement, according to the coroner's service.
In the Toronto region, however, the most common reason cited in 2025 was that no next of kin could be identified or found.
Romagnoli suspects social isolation exacerbated by the pandemic is partly to blame, adding that estrangement is "most certainly an overlying blanket" atop many of the reasons laid out below by the coroner's service (beyond the categories where estrangement is a known factor)
"People that were already on the fringe have even sort of worsened," Romagnoli said.
