We have been proactive in providing accessible facilities, and are proud to boast that both of our funeral homes are handicap accessible.

The"Waverley Chapel" - When our Waverley Chapel was built in 1940, handicap accessibility was never a consideration. When someone in a wheelchair arrived, we simply carried them in their wheelchair, up the 7 front stairs. However, in 1988 we made considerable changes at the front of our building, and constructed a wheelchair ramp which would bring handicap people to our main front entrance. As we are in a Heritage District, we could not (nor did we want) to simply place a makeshift ramp in our front driveway. Therefore, the ramp was designed, not only to meet the legal requirements of the Building Code, but to also blend-in with our landscaping and architecture. In the end, we may have done too good a job. Today, nearly 13 years later, we are still asked if there is a wheelchair ramp?! At the time our ramp was constructed, there was only one other funeral home in town that had a ramp, and their's was put on the side of their building at a private entrance, not the front doors (we are not wishing to be critical, just stating a fact).

          While the ramp made our main floor accessible, the restrooms still required attention. Both the ladies' room and the men's room are located on our main floor. Therefore, in 1993, we took our existing restrooms and made the necessary modifications to make them both fully accessible. It is our understanding that we were the first funeral home in Thunder Bay to have accessible washrooms. Our selection room is in the basement, but the fact that the building is located on the side of a hill, does still allow a wheelchair-bound client the opportunity to enter the showroom by going down the side driveway and in the back door. While this is not the ideal situation, it is safer than using our casket elevator which is not licensed for use by the public.

          The only areas that are not wheelchair accessible, is our upstairs coffee / smoking / reception area and monument display. However, eventually we plan to install a handicap lift / elevator to make these areas fully accessible. It should be noted, that when we renovated the upstairs, we made the 2 restrooms accessible, in anticipation of the day when an elevator or other device was installed.

The "Westfort Chapel" - The Westfort Chapel was constructed all on one level, and as such has no stairs whatsoever! Even outside curbs do not exist to block access to the building. Building codes aside, it was always our intention to make the building totally handicap accessible by design. The main doors are power, with a handicap access button, and both the ladies' and men's restrooms are fully accessible. Likewise, any further additions will also be fully accessible, in an effort to meet the needs of all our visitors.

          Thank you for joining the on-line tour of our facilities.  We hope you are finding it interesting and informative.

 - John-Bryan Gardiner, Vice-President, Managing Partner .