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.
The Mission
Death has been taken from us — moved to institutions, managed by professionals, tidied away from the lives it actually belongs to. The Canoe exists because we believe that's a loss worth grieving, and a wrong worth righting.
The Canoe was founded in 2021 out of 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 want to bring Death back to Life.
Meet the Founder
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.
Partners - Partenaires
Bram Paperman
Founder, Cleo Cremation
Cleo Cremation blends a hundred years of dedicated service to community today’s technology, making sure every death is as special and personal as the life it celebrates.
Canvas Montreal
Canvas Montreal Reception Loft is more than just another venue. We are a family run business that considers our staff an extension of our family..and our clients as our honoured guests.
Erin Willett
Co-Fondatrice, New Room
Erin believes we are all artists and that life itself is our most meaningful artform. She sees creative self-expression as a pathway for healing, connection, and sensemaking as we move through life, learn, evolve and become. A guest on Indigenous land, she moves through the world conscious of her impact, and committed to meaningful relationship building with neighbours, the earth and spirit.
Andrea Castonguay
Guide, Bodhi Path Creations
Andrea offers her clients and experience of deep soul connection and embodiment through meditation and sound.
Alexce Frenoy
A certified yoga instructor, Alexce is bringing her teachings on asanas, pranayama, meditation and the arts of the subconscious (nidra and dream work), to address grief work as an embodiment practice.
Virginia Marcolin
Fondateur, Sanctum Shrouds
Sanctum is pleased to offer Canadian-made burial shrouds for green burial and home funeral rituals. Honouring life with simplicity, care, and earth-loving design.
Death Over Coffee
These community gatherings are invitations for those who are grieving, of course, but mostly for those who are seeking to share and learn more about our collective experience of dying and death, and to wonder what might be possible if we were to deepen our relationship with them.
Contact Us
When you're ready to talk, we're here. Reach out — a conversation is always where we begin.