Music

Quebec contributes $50,000 to Celine Dion's husband's $700,000 funeral

by Richard Howard

In accordance with the offer extended to Celine Dion and her family, the Quebec government has announced it will be contributing $50,000 towards the January 22nd funeral of René Angélil, Dion’s longtime husband and manager.

However, while similar amounts have covered the lion’s share of previous ‘national funerals’ as they are called in Quebec, this will be a drop in the bucket in this instance as the total expense of Angélil’s funeral and public visitation has been reported to be nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. 

Initially, the Quebec government pledged to pay for the organization of the funeral and preceding public visitation to the tune of $75,000. However, this amount was later lowered and yesterday it was announced $49,770 of taxpayers’ money would be put towards the total cost. The government will also be paying for specific expenses such as photography and flowers. 

More than 2,000 people flocked to Montreal’s historic Notre-Dame Basilica on January 22nd. The location of the funeral was at Angélil’s request – the very same church where he and Dion were married in 1994. Angélil passed away on January 14th in Las Vegas at 73 after a lengthy battle with throat cancer.