A Dream Retirement Home Turned Into a $319k Nightmare After Discovering Ancient Remains
A valid building permit didn’t protect Christine and Dan Reio. Neither did doing everything by the book. And their experience in a small Ontario town carries a warning for anyone planning to break ground on a property.
During the pandemic, the couple bought a bungalow in Wainfleet, Ontario, in the Niagara region, overlooking Lake Erie. The plan: expand the property and eventually retire there, according to the CBC.
In April 2023, they received a building permit from Wainfleet Township for demolition and an addition. Construction began.
A few days into the project, the construction foreman called.
It was then that the Reios learned that human remains had been found on the property.
Police investigated and determined no crime had occurred. A provincial official then informed the couple that the bones were ancestral Indigenous remains — a young man, likely in his early 20s.
Tanya Hill-Montour, archaeology supervisor with Six Nations of the Grand River, estimates the remains are at least 1,000 years old.
The Six Nations of the Grand River includes the Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Tuscarora (Haudenosaunee peoples), whose traditional homeland includes the Wainfleet area.
The discovery triggered a legal process the Reios had no way to anticipate and no ability to opt out of.
A 2002 Law Puts the Full Cost on the Homeowner
A provincial law — the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act (FBCSA) — requires a Burial Site Investigation whenever remains are discovered.
Ontario’s Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement (MPBSDP) oversees the Registrar of Burials, who ordered the investigation on the Reios’ property.
Under this law, the homeowner must hire a licensed archaeologist to determine the site’s history, its borders, and how to handle the remains. The investigation also determines whether the property should be classified as a cemetery if more remains are found.
One quote the Reios received for the Burial Site Investigation came in at $319,000, according to the CBC.
That estimate covered a crew of six working approximately 27 days. The work involves sifting through roughly 100 square metres of dirt using 3mm mesh screens, plus Indigenous community monitoring throughout the process.
But the $319,000 figure is not a cap. Archaeologists are advised to dig a 5-metre buffer around any find, meaning costs could climb to $1 million or more if additional remains surface during the excavation.
“This is an insane amount of money,” Christine said in an interview with the CBC. “This is not within the scope of what’s reasonable.”
The Law Allows Financial Relief — For Some
The FBCSA includes a provision allowing homeowners to apply for financial help if the mandatory dig causes “undue financial burden.”
Unfortunately, the law provides no criteria for how a homeowner qualifies.
The Reios, for example, applied for financial relief in October 2024. At the time of publication, they had not received a response. The ministry confirmed the application is “still in progress” with no timeline given.
And they aren’t the only ones, according to the CBC.
Between 2023 and 2025, the province received 19 applications for financial relief. Only six of them were approved, per the CBC. Roughly two-thirds of applicants were either denied or left waiting.
“I can’t even imagine the investment of man hours spent to give us no answer,” Christine added. “I know that I personally have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours. Do they know that we don’t sleep at night? Do they know that we cry?”
The Reios are not alone in seeing a problem with how this burden falls. Hill-Montour, the archaeology supervisor with Six Nations of the Grand River, was direct.
“It’s a financial burden so costly that nobody wants to take accountability for it,” Hill-Montour told the CBC. “I truly do not believe that homeowners should be completely responsible.”
The law mandates the investigation. The government orders it. The homeowner pays for it. No clear mechanism exists to ensure the cost is shared or manageable.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
