JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1510 West
Almost two years after a fire destroyed the Collins Clarke MacGillivray White funeral home in Pointe Claire, work to rebuild the facility is set to begin by the fall.
“We’re currently awaiting final approval from the (Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal)” said Simon Dubé, market director for Service Corporation International, the funeral home’s parent company, in a message. “It is too early to have (an estimated end date) at this time, but we think at the end of spring 2026,” he continued. “In a month from now we should have a better idea.”
An early design image provided to The 1510 West shows the new facility will be a two-storey brick building. The design does not include the signature white pillars of the old building that stood at Highway 20 and Cartier Avenue. However, Dubé noted that this design “is not 100-per-cent official until we obtain our final approval.”
Construction of the building is expected to cost $6.5 million, he said.
Earlier this year, Pointe Claire city council approved a series of resolutions permitting the construction of the new building to move forward.
Known simply as “Collins,” the funeral home had been the go-to option for funerals and memorial services in the West Island since it opened in the 1960s. That was until the two-storey structure went up in flames in November 2023. The cause of the fire was reported to be undetermined due to extensive damage to the interior of the building, but Montreal police ruled out foul play.
Pointe Claire residents had described the fire at Collins as the loss of an “icon in the community.” Resident Terry O’Shaughnessy had previously explained to The 1510 West how memorial services for both her parents and her grandparents had been held at Collins. “It’s sort of like a place for our family history that’s now gone,” she said in an interview soon after the fire.
Since the fire, Collins employees have been operating out of an office space across the street, at 201 Cartier Ave., while memorial services and visitations have been hosted at The Church of Saint John the Baptist in Pointe Claire.
The remains of the damaged building were fully removed in August. The lot has remained empty ever since.