Future of Muslim cemetery rests with 49 voters in Quebec town
The
zoning change is the result of a discussion between a resident and a
Muslim family that had no local options for burying their loved one in
accordance with their religious customs.
MONTREAL
— Just 49 voters in a rural Quebec municipality will cast ballots in a
referendum Sunday to decide whether a parcel of land should be turned
into a Muslim-run cemetery for people in the Quebec City area.
The
voters in Saint-Apollinaire, which is located about an hour southwest
of the provincial capital, will decide whether to uphold or overturn
zoning changes needed to turn a plot currently used to bury ashes
contained in funeral urns into a cemetery that operates in accordance
with the Islamic faith, according to town officials.
But the results risk sending a strong message across Canada and outside the country’s borders, said resident Sylvain Roy.
“My
opinion is that the municipality risks being a symbol of social
exclusion in all of Canada, in North America and perhaps further away
than that,” said Roy, who is director of the Harmonia funeral home that
is selling the land to the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec.
The crucial zoning change is the result of a discussion that began in October 2016 when Roy met a Muslim family that had no local options
for burying their loved one in accordance with their religious customs.
The only Muslim-run cemetery in Quebec is 250 kilometres away in Laval,
a suburb immediately north of Montreal.
But the issue came to wider public notice this winter after a mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque
that killed six men and injured a number of others during Sunday
evening prayers. One of the six victims was buried in Laval while the
others were returned to the countries they were born in.
The
tragedy spurred members of the mosque to complete the transaction for
the land in Saint-Apollinaire in February, reportedly worth $215,000.
Mayor Bernard Ouellet and the municipal council followed through on May 1
with unanimous approval of the necessary zoning changes.
But
plans were already underway to challenge the changes with a referendum
that allows neighbouring residents who might be affected by the project
to have a vote on council’s decision. Seventeen signatures were enough
to call the referendum. A simple majority of the 49 eligible voters will
be enough to uphold council’s changes or overturn the zoning amendment.
The
leader of the group contesting the change, Sunny Létourneau, said they
proposed the creation of a multi-confessional cemetery, a co-operative
with the Muslim community and a privately run business with separate
plot for Islamic burials.
“They told us
that it was contrary to their beliefs,” Létourneau said of the Muslim
community. “But when we consulted other imams and other mosques, they
said there is nothing in the Qur’an that prevents that.”
One
example is the recent opening last Sunday of a 500-plot section
reserved for Muslims that is contained in a larger cemetery, located 30
kilometres from Quebec City.
Mélijade
Rodrigue, a spokesperson for the Lépine Cloutier/Athos Funeral Home,
said the Muslim section in the company’s Saint-Augustin- de-Desmaures,
Que., cemetery is the latest example of religious cohabitation, but
there are others in the province.
But the
Centre Culturel Islamique du Québec wants the certainty and security
that will be guaranteed by owning the land outright.
“When
you have land that you own, families have a plot for eternity,” Mohamed
Kesri, the organization’s secretary, told The Canadian Press.
Létourneau
said she has other concerns if the project goes ahead, from the
maintenance and care that the cemetery grounds will receive to the
financial effects to the municipality from tax breaks granted to
religious groups in Quebec.
But her biggest
problem is that cemeteries run by religious groups, be they Muslim,
Catholic, Jewish or another denomination, keep people out.
“It’s
all religions that pose a problem,” she said, noting that her mother is
Catholic but she was never baptized into the faith.
“I
have no religion and I refuse to submit to a religion. I respect
peoples’ faiths but it means that I won’t even be able to be buried in
the same cemetery as my parents ... It’s a problem that will only grow
in our society.”
No one will hazard a
guess as to the outcome of Sunday’s referendum. Roy, the Harmonia
funeral director, said there are about 10 people who are stridently in
favour of maintaining the zoning change, 10 people stridently against it
and roughly 29 people somewhere in the middle whose leaning will decide
the outcome.
Voting closes at 8 p.m. Sunday night. Results are expected to be announced a few minutes later.
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