Funding to ‘ease religious tensions’

Quebec’s Liberal government will spend $400,000 in an effort to ease religious tensions at Collège de Maisonneuve, after several high-profile incidents implicating the school’s Muslim students.

The money will go toward hiring staff to mediate conflicts, said Higher Education Minister Hélène David during a news conference at the Montreal CEGEP.

The school’s administration called upon the provincial government to act after an altercation last month between well-known Muslim leader Adil Charkaoui and a security guard at the CEGEP. Charkaoui was subsequently charged with assault.

There have also been media reports about Muslim students falling prey to ISIS propaganda and, last year, the RCMP detained students Mahdi Jamali and Sabrine Djaermane over fears they might commit a terrorist act.

During the press conference Sunday — as she sat next to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre — David was careful to avoid the topic of radical Islam or use the word “de-radicalization” to describe the funding announcement. Instead, the minister called the money part of a plan for students to “live together” in harmony.

This despite the fact that the provincial government announced a separate $500,000 initiative, earlier this month, to fund an anti-radicalization centre in Montreal.

“One of the essential elements in conflict resolution ... is to have people who are there to build bridges and prevent eventual conflicts,” Coderre said. “We’re all working together.”