St-Apollinaire and the challenges of diversity

Quebec’s secularism debate is far from over; let’s keep it civil

On Sunday, a small group of residents of St Apollinaire, Que., voted against a proposed Muslim-run cemetery in their town.

After the accommodation “crises” that led to the 2007-08 Bouchard-Taylor Commission and the 2013-14 debate over the proposed Quebec Charter of Values, this is the latest case of tensions arising between those in favour of “religious accommodation” and proponents of secularism. It won’t be the last.

Unfortunately, it’s also the kind of story that’s ripe for exaggeration, the sort too often used to label Quebec as uniquely racist or intolerant. Some perspective is warranted.

St-Apollinaire, a small town southwest of Quebec City, is home to just over 6,000 residents.

Only 49 people registered to vote in Sunday’s referendum on a zoning change that would have allowed for the creation of a Muslim cemetery on a plot of land currently owned by the Harmonia funeral home; 36 showed up at the polls. (Eligibility is restricted to those who live closest to the land in question.)

In the end, despite Mayor Bernard Ouellet’s support for the proposal, the project was defeated, 19 to 16. One ballot was rejected. Hardly a tidal wave of xenophobia, Islamophobia or anti-Muslim sentiment.

This is not to dismiss the role that fear or misinformation may have played in people’s decisions to vote against the project. However, secularists’ concerns should not just be dismissed. It seems clear there is an ongoing need for open, well-informed and robust public discussion about religious accommodation in Quebec.

The search for a burial ground in Quebec that would allow observant Muslims to bury their dead loved ones in accordance with Islamic customs and traditions has been in the works for 10 to 15 years.

For some, this project took on a new urgency in January of this year when six Muslim men were killed and 19 others were injured in an attack at the Centre culturel islamique de Québec, a mosque in suburban Quebec City. Charged in connection with the horrible event is 27-year-old Alexandre Bissonnette, a white man believed to hold far-right, anti-Muslim, and nationalist views.

At present, Quebec’s only Muslim-run cemetery is located in Laval. One of the dead from January’s massacre was buried there, while the bodies of the other five were repatriated to their countries of origin.

In the wake of this tragedy, the Centre culturel islamique de Québec sought to buy 60,000 square feet of land from Harmonia, on the town limits of St-Apollinaire. In February, the town’s council voted unanimously for the zoning changes required for the land to be used to bury bodies rather than only cremated remains.

However, in May, local community members came forward to push for a referendum on the zoning change. They said that cemeteries shouldn’t only cater to members of one religion.

Instead, they expressed support for an interdenominational cemetery for all faiths, something the Muslim-cemetery advocates said would not meet their religious needs.

Quebec is not alone among Western liberal democratic societies in facing the challenges of increasing diversity and corresponding demands for recognition or accommodation by minority groups. These questions are at the heart of contemporary political and social debate across the Western world.

Over the last few months, I’ve noticed certain kinds of stories about religious accommodation creeping back into the media in ways that are concerning. Earlier this month, for example, a video of Muslim visitors engaging in prayer on the grounds of Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Que., was circulated on social media, triggering an “anti-Muslim backlash.”

In the wake of the mosque attack in January, political leaders at all three levels of government in Quebec came together across party lines in a commendable display of gravitas and civility.

Whatever our points of view on secularism, as the debate over the Muslim cemetery continues, I hope that tone of civility continues.