The Canoe

    A human approach to grief, dying and death.

    Grief isn't something to get through. Neither is dying. Neither is death. They are passages to be carried | with guidance, with community, with care.

    The Canoe
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    Compassionate GuidanceHuman WarmthMindful Expertise

    Canoe /kəˈnuː/

    The Canoe, or the boat more generally, holds a profound significance across diverse cultures, symbolizing the journey into the realm of death and beyond. Frequently associated with the vessel escorting the soul to reunite with ancestral spirits, the canoe provides a serene passage over tranquil waters towards the serenity of the afterlife.

    Our Mission

    The word "death" makes most of us turn away. It has been built into something to fear, manage, or avoid speaking of directly. But long before it was that, death was woven into life: tended by family, marked by ritual, held in community. It has since been taken from us | moved to institutions, managed by professionals, tidied away from the lives, and the relationships, it actually belongs to. We have lost the ongoing relationship we once had with our dead, and with the grief that follows them. The Canoe exists because we believe that's a loss worth grieving, and a wrong worth righting.

    Founded in 2021, The Canoe is built on the conviction that dying and grief are not problems to be solved but passages to be witnessed | by family, by community, by those willing to stay present when presence is hardest.

    We work with the dying and those who love them. We sit with grief that has no timetable. We help families reclaim the rituals, the intimacy, and the meaning that death deserves, and that the living need in order to carry it well.

    In short: We bring Death back to Life.

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    In their own words

    Voices from The Canoe

    Bringing Death back to Life | TEDx HEC Montréal | March 2026
    Bringing Death back to Life | TEDx HEC Montréal | March 2026
    "
    Through the sessions and support provided by Paul and the team at Canoe, my family and I have been able to gain a better understanding of our unique grief following the death of our eldest son, but also to feel the support and kindness of the shared experiences within community.
    La Famille Truchon Family

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    Coming June 2026

    Meet the Founder

    Paul Simard

    Paul Simard

    Paul Simard has spent the better part of three decades working at the intersection of human health, community, and meaning: in boardrooms, in non-profits, and increasingly, at bedsides.

    His path to death doula work wasn't chosen so much as arrived at, through personal losses that refused to be tidied away, and through a growing conviction that our culture's relationship with dying and grief had become impoverished in ways we could no longer afford to ignore.

    He founded The Canoe in 2020 because he believed, and still believes, that death belongs to the living. That grief is not a problem to be managed but a passage to be honored. That families deserve more than efficiency when someone they love is dying or has died.

    Paul works with individuals, families, and communities as a certified death doula, an experienced officiant, and a grief guide. He is also a speaker, a writer, and a persistent advocate for the reclamation of a more fully human relationship with mortality.

    He is based in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) and works in both English and French.

    From the Journal

    Reflections on grief, dying, death and the art of honouring life.

    Read the Journal

    Community Resources

    Crossing Waters

    Crossing Waters is a community from across Montreal and around the world, people who have come to wonder together.

    We meet twice a month online. The first and third Tuesday evening of the month, from 7pm to 8:30pm Eastern. A private WhatsApp community holds the conversation between calls, a place to share resources, experiences, and invitations from The Canoe.

    Once you have joined, you will receive an email confirming your place, the link for the monthly calls, and the invitation to the WhatsApp group.

    What if Grief, Dying and Death were here to teach me. What would Life look like then.

    CAD $55per month
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    Books and Courses

    Lanterns for the road

    Grief as Ground cover

    Grief as Ground

    A Six.Session Journey Through Loss, Body, and Belonging

    A self.paced online program

    You were not meant to carry this alone. Grief was never meant to be something you simply get through.

    Grief as Ground is not about getting over your loss. It is about discovering what lives inside it. The nourishment. The inheritance. The proof of how deeply and irreversibly you loved someone.

    Over six sessions, you will find language for what you have been carrying, learn to listen to your body as a truthful guide, and begin to carry your loss as ground beneath your feet.

    Start Today
    When the Ground Shifts cover

    When the Ground Shifts

    A grief companion for those who have lost a parent

    A book of unhurried reflections and prompts

    Nobody teaches us how to lose a parent. We get condolences. We get casseroles. We get two weeks and an expectation of return to normal, as though normal were still a place that exists.

    When the Ground Shifts is a companion for the road ahead. Not a self.help book. Not a clinical workbook. A lantern.

    Six chapters of honest reflection, each followed by prompts and writing space to help you find your own words for what you are moving through.

    Get Yours

    When the World Gathers

    Global Celebrations of Life

    These traditions did not emerge from policy or prescription. They emerged from the same human need we carry today. To not be alone with loss, to make grief visible, to honor those who shaped us with the full weight of ceremony and community.

    Ireland . ScotlandStill Living

    The Irish Wake

    When someone dies, the house becomes a living thing again. The body laid in the main room, candles at head and foot, mirrors covered, windows opened to let the spirit out. Neighbors come with whiskey and sandwiches, with stories and the willingness to stay awake through the dark hours. Laughter alongside tears. The whole truth of a life, told all at once.

    A bittersweet experience that can encourage laughter as much as tears. A farewell party for the deceased.
    Gaelic DiasporaLargely Lost . Being Reclaimed

    Keening . Caoineadh

    Before the procession moved, the women gathered. The keeners raised their voices in ancient, improvised lament. Part sung eulogy, part genealogical recitation, part raw cry from the body. Keening was the sound of grief given full permission. A bridge built in sound.

    Their genealogy might be called so that the family and ancestors who had gone before could provide a spirit ladder for the departing soul to climb back home.
    JapanStill Living . Annual

    Obon . The Festival of Returning Spirits

    Every August, Japan pauses. The spirits of the dead are believed to return for three days. Families clean ancestral graves, prepare favorite foods, light paper lanterns. On the final evening, the lanterns are floated out onto rivers and into the sea. Light on moving water. Release without abandonment.

    We knew you were here. We are glad you came. Now go gently.
    Vietnam . DiasporaStill Living . Annual

    Giỗ . The Death Anniversary Feast

    The anniversary of a person's death is observed with as much intention as any celebration of birth. Days of preparation go into a feast that includes the deceased's favorite foods, placed first on an altar as offering. Incense burns. The table is set for the living and the dead alike.

    The dead are not gone. They are simply on the other side of a thin wall, and once a year, we knock.
    Mexico . Latin AmericaStill Living . Ancient Roots

    Día de los Muertos

    For three thousand years, the Mexican people have known that death is not the opposite of life. On November 1st and 2nd, the boundary becomes permeable. Families build ofrendas with marigolds, candles, photographs, and favorite foods. In the cemeteries they gather with picnic blankets, music, and children, sometimes until dawn.

    The tradition seeks to prevent the second death. The death that comes when the living stop remembering.
    New Orleans . West African RootsStill Living

    The Jazz Funeral

    A brass band leads the procession through the streets. The music begins in sorrow, slow and mournful. Once the burial is complete, the music transforms. The band breaks into jubilation. A parade of dancing, tambourines, umbrellas spinning in the air. First you mourn. Then you celebrate. The community does both, out loud, together.

    Grief and joy can walk the same road, one behind the other.
    Lakota . Great PlainsStill Living

    The Lakota Giveaway

    Two days of ceremony, stories told through the night, children in sleeping bags on the floor while adults keep vigil until dawn. The deceased is not spoken of as having passed away. They have walked on. Central to the ceremony is the giveaway. People are invited to take one of the deceased's possessions. In the giving, the deceased's character is made visible one last time.

    Lakota grief was something to be valued. | Jack Kornfield
    MadagascarStill Living

    Famadihana . The Turning of the Bones

    Every five to seven years, the Malagasy people hold a celebration at their ancestral crypts. The bodies of their dead are exhumed, sprayed with wine and perfume, brought into the light of day. A band plays. Family members dance with the bodies in their arms. New burial cloths are wrapped. The ancestors are told all the news.

    What if death was not a door that closes, but one that swings both ways.
    Ghana . Ga PeopleStill Living . Growing

    Fantasy Coffins . The Carried Life

    Among the Ga people, the coffin is not a box but a declaration. Carved and painted by master craftsmen, fantasy coffins take the shape of something the deceased loved or embodied. A fish for a fisherman, a cocoa pod for a farmer, an eagle for someone who dreamed of flight. The funeral becomes a celebration of an entire life, made three.dimensional.

    The coffin as autobiography. A life this specific deserves a send.off that specific.

    They are not relics. They are invitations to remember that we already know how to do this. We have simply forgotten that we have permission.

    Kind Words

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    Contact Us

    When you're ready to talk, we're here. Reach out, a conversation is always where we begin.

    514.503.2116celebrations@thecanoe.co
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