B.C. funeral service provider fined $16,000 for improperly transferring, storing body

A Penticton-based funeral service provider has been penalized $16,000 for improperly transferring and storing a dead body. Photo by RobertHoetink /Getty Images/iStockphoto

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A Penticton-based funeral service provider has been penalized $16,000 for improperly transferring and storing a dead body.

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An investigation by Consumer Protection B.C. found that in August 2025, Kettle Valley Memorial Services had transferred the remains of a deceased person from Penticton Regional Hospital without proper written consent, and stored the body at a facility that was not regulated for such use.

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Doing so is a contravention under B.C.’s Cremation, Interment and Funeral Services Act.

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In August 2025, an individual identified only as DF died at Penticton hospital. A relative signed a transfer release, allowing Providence Funeral Home to transfer the body from the hospital on Aug. 30.

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That same day, Kettle Valley Memorial Services received a call from the hospital stating the hospital’s morgue was full and that asking Kettle Valley to transfer the body for storage off-site.

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Kettle Valley had a standing agreement with Nunes-Pottinger Funeral Service & Crematorium “to utilize their refrigeration unit for the storage of three sets of human remains.”

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Instead, Kettle Valley picked up the remains and transferred them to another refrigeration unit at 317 Dawson Ave., instead of the refrigerator unit Kettle Valley was under agreement to use at Nunes-Pottinger.

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The Dawson Avenue unit did not belong to Kettle Valley but to a numbered company and was previously built for the storage of human remains on behalf of the B.C. Coroners Service. However, the B.C. Coroners Service was not contracting to use the storage unit at the time and it was not regularly inspected for the purpose of storing human remains.

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Kettle Valley stored the body there for five days, believing authority over the body remained with the hospital and that they were “not acting as a funeral provider when they picked up DF’s human remains.”

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“The respondent initially claimed they did not recognize DF’s name, nor serve or provide any services to DF or their family according to their records,” wrote Consumer Protection B.C. adjudicator Daniel O’Connor in his decision.

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But O’Connor determined that the “transportation of human remains, as well as storage of human remains fall within the definition of funeral services.” Consumer Protection noted that if Kettle Valley were providing such services, the body should have been stored at one of Kettle Valley’s three designated spots with Nunes-Pottinger.

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“By transporting and storing DF’s human remains at a location that was not associated with the respondent’s business as a funeral provider, and more specifically at a location not deemed as acceptable … for the storage of human remains, the respondent failed to handle DF’s human remains in a respectful manner,” the decision read.

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Kettle Valley was issued a compliance order and must pay an administrative penalty of $16,000 and reimburse $1,577.60 to Consumer Protection for the costs of the inspection, according to the decision issued Oct. 9, 2026.

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Kettle Valley has 30 days to dispute the penalty.

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