Guibord Case - Aftermath

Aftermath

Following the court ruling, two attempts were needed to perform the burial of Guibord's remains in Côte-des-Neiges Cemetery. The first attempt was on 2 September 1875, but the burial party was turned away by an angry crowd. On the second, successful, attempt, on 16 November 1875, the burial party was accompanied by an armed police and military escort, numbering approximately 2,500 men. He was buried in the same plot as the remains of his widow, Henriette Brown. The coffin was encased in a mixture of cement and metal scraps to prevent disinterment by irate Catholics.

Following the burial, Bishop Bourget deconsecrated the ground in which Guibord lay, declaring the place of burial forever “under an interdict and separate from the rest of the cemetery.”

Some years after the decision of the Judicial Committee, the Legislature of Quebec responded to the decision by enacting a law which stated that the Catholic church officials had sole authority to determine whether a person could be buried in consecrated ground, effectively changing the law as determined by the Judicial Committee. The law is still in force today, as part of the Burial Act of Quebec.