Funeral expense and grief counselling support

You can apply for funeral expense reimbursement if you:

• paid all or part of the funeral costs for a victim who passed away as a result of a Criminal Code offence in Alberta
• have receipts to verify all expenses

Immediate access to grief counselling is available for:

• immediate family members of a homicide victim (up to $1,000 per person)
• extended family members (up to $1,000 per person for a maximum group total of $4,000)

The person(s) who paid for funeral expenses can get reimbursed for expenses up to $12,500.

• Funeral service
• Cemetery plot/niche
• Interment
• Embalming
• Clergy/officiating persons’ honorarium
• Flowers
• Appropriate obituary notices
• Casket/urn
• Opening/closing charges
• Headstone
• Cremation
• Musician’s honorarium
• Transportation of remains
• Death certificate(s)
• Crime scene clean-up (please contact the program)

• Alcohol
• Travel costs of survivors to attend the funeral/final resting site
• Estate administration
• Legal expenses

You can access counselling by either accessing:

• counselling from our contracted vendor, who will invoice the program directly, or
• a counsellor of your choice, then submitting the receipts to the program for reimbursement

You do not have to wait for a charge or conviction to apply, but the incident must first be reported to a police agency.

• Funeral Expense Reimbursement or Grief Counselling Application form (PDF, 2.3 MB)
• Demande de prestation de décès (PDF, 1.1 MB)

Submit the completed application to the Victims of Crime Assistance Program.

• Email: [email protected]
• Fax: 780-422-4213
• Mail:
  Victims of Crime Assistance Program
  10th Floor, 10365 97 Street
  Edmonton, AB  T5J 3W7