Is it just me or is it chilly in here?
I found it ridiculously difficult trying to find interesting non-standard funerary practices available to Canadians. However, through pure luck I came across a website called the Cryonics Society of Canada. Now if you are not familiar, Google defines cryonics as "The practice or technique of deep-freezing the bodies of those who have died of an incurable disease, in the hope of a future cure". The deep freezing process involves being put in freezing cold liquid nitrogen. Apparently in 1987 a psychology student at McMaster University named Douglas Quinn created the Cryonics Society of Canada. Why did he create this? Well apparently two years prior to this, Doug had became the first Canadian to make arrangement to be cryopreserved when he died with a group called the Alcor Foundation in the UK. Apparently, in the early 1900s two Europeans were buried in Yellowknife with a permafrost burial assisted by the Cryonics Society of Canada. Apparently they haven't assisted permafrost burial since then. BC attempted to pass a law to not allow the marketing of cryonics, but there wasn't any success. There wasn't much on their history after the beginning of the 1900s but while looking at their news and events page I noticed that they're still having events to inform people about cryonics. The last one was actually just held 10 days ago in Toronto. This group seems like they're serious is lobbying for this opportunity to have a new funerary practice available to Canadians, and it also seems like not many people mind the idea. It has only been BC so far that has seemed really against it.
I think a big reason why this fascinates me so much is (1) because this is amazing to think that we could potentially bring someone back to life in the future and (2) one of my heroes (Walt Disney) was rumoured to be cryopreserved right under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland.
http://www.cryocdn.org/cdnhist.html <-- Cryonics Society of Canada website
http://www.deaflion.com/people/walt-disney/ <-- Where I took my photo from
This is super interesting! Especially that they are still active right now and attempting to get raise awareness about this method of preservation. Do you know if there is actually a storage facility in Yellowknife? Or is there just a really big deep freezer with two bodies in it? Also I hear the biography of Walt Disney is amazing :)
ReplyDeleteI actually don't know. I feel as though this is still so experimental. I'd love to be able to check it out though. That would be so interesting.
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