Citizens in Montreal borough hold referendum on religious accommodation

[rug]

Giuseppe Valiante, The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, November 17, 2016 4:22AM EST

MONTREAL - The latest flashpoint in Quebec's ongoing debate on accommodating religious minorities will play out on Sunday in a wealthy enclave on the eastern slope of Montreal's Mount Royal.

Citizens will vote in a referendum on whether to overturn a bylaw banning places of worship on Bernard Avenue, a busy and colourful street in the borough of Outremont.

The law forbids all new temples - of any denomination - from opening on the mixed commercial and residential strip but no one in the area has any illusions that the main group targeted is the borough's growing Hasidic Jewish community.

"If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it's a duck," said Alex Werzberger, a spokesman for Outremont's Hasidic Jews. "They don't want us here. They are hoping to squeeze us out."

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/citizens-in-montreal-borough-hold-referendum-on-religious-accommodation-1.3164698

[guillaumeb]

1. There was an article in "Actualite" a few years ago about the Jewish enclave

in Outremont. Among the points made was the fact that many of the Jewish immigrants from the US made absolutely no attempt to learn or speak French. While anti-Semitism has a long history in France, I feel some of this is a cultural issue. Laïcité is quite strong in Québéc.