Jews cry foul over Montreal zoning
Changes to Outremont are latest attempt to drive out Hassidim, community says
MONTREAL— That a struggling rotisserie-chicken restaurant shut down in the heart of the tony Montreal neighbourhood of Outremont was not a shock.
Here, like everywhere, businesses thrive or they fail.
But the application filed by a Hassidic Jewish group for a permit to install a ritual bath, or mikvah, right across from several trendy restaurants and a well-attended concert hall and theatre set off alarm bells.
Nine months later, it has resulted in a series of proposed neighbourhood zoning changes that some say threaten the already tense coexistence between ultra-orthodox Jews, who account for a quarter of Outremont’s total population, and residents in an area that is home to many of Montreal’s francophone elite.
Emotions peaked last week when several members of the Jewish community stormed out of a public meeting that had been called to discuss the regulation changes. The proposal would ban places of worship from opening on stretches of Bernard St. and Laurier Ave., two of Outremont’s most important commercial arteries.
On Monday, the Outremont neighbourhood council will decide whether to proceed with the changes, well aware that doing so could spark a divisive community referendum that is unlikely either to resolve the matter and will probably only add to the social friction.
“Basically it will pit neighbours against neighbours. It will mean a very heated political campaign where everyone will be forced to choose between hurting one neighbour and hurting another neighbour,” said Abraham Ekstein, a member of the Hassidic community who has been leading opposition to the regulatory change.
“It’s something we’re certainly not excited about.” Outremont Mayor Marie CinqMars said in an interview that the zoning changes are necessary to support a struggling retail sector, to ensure access to neighbourhood-improvement funding from the city of Montreal, and to maintain a lively urban feel in the community.
“When you have an empty parking lot followed by a daycare, then two houses, a store and then a place of worship, it doesn’t make for a very appealing commercial artery,” said Cinq-Mars. “That’s the principal reason we’ve done this.”
Other supporters note that most places of worship can seek exemptions from property taxes that would otherwise be paid by a regular business, potentially depriving the neighbourhood administration of a vital source of revenue.
But members of the Hassidic community, which comprises about 800 families, with an average of about six children per family, see a co-ordinated campaign that is using every available tool to push them out of sight and, preferably, out of Outremont, where they have been part of the cultural fabric since immigrants from Europe began settling in the area after the Second World War. “In the last 10 or 12 years, whatever could be done to make life miserable for the Jews — especially for the religious Jews — has been done,” said Alex Werzberger, of the Coalition of Outremont Hassidic Organizations.
The bitter debate in Quebec over reasonable accommodations for religious minorities was sparked a decade ago in part by a request from the Hassidic community that the local YMCA, which is on the border with Outremont, install frosted glass so that young boys would be shielded from women in workout gear.
Since then, the community says it has been targeted with traffic tickets and other proposed bylaws and initiatives intended to limit or stamp out religious displays by a large and growing segment of the population.
“There’s a certain very vocal minority of people who are not happy with our presence, I guess,” said Ekstein. “We don’t know why. We are very peaceful neighbours.”
Daniel Major, one of the Outremont residents who has rallied support for the zoning changes, warned against mistaking support for local business for a targeted campaign against a religious group.
“It’s just that we want Laurier and Bernard to remain commercial, collegial and open to all. In general, places of worship are closed off, not open to the public — or at least all of the public. It’s for a certain category of people who are of that religion.”
This spring, the zoning change was set to be adopted by Outremont’s elected council with an additional measure designating an out-of-theway two-block section of an industrial area as the go-to place for new places of worship.
At the last minute, though, officials realized that the zoning lines passed through the middle of existing buildings, meaning that proposed changes had to be re-introduced — this time without the offer of an alternative zone for religious gathering places.
This omission has the Hassidic community worried, despite promises from the mayor that a dedicated section of the neighbourhood will be established once the zoning problems are fixed, said Mindy Pollak, an elected Outremont councillor, who is also a Hassidic Jew.
“People say that these are commercial streets, so why should we put (synagogues) there? I completely agree that they might not be the best places, but they have to put them somewhere and if it’s not allowed in the whole rest of the borough, that’s just unacceptable.”
Equally unacceptable is the idea or even the possibility of an expanding religious presence in secular Quebec, a province where God once ruled almighty but now tiptoes in the margins.
“You can’t say it will be just one (place of worship). After, it could be a mosque, a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall or something else,” said Danielle Barot, co-owner of Laurier Ave.’s Leméac Restaurant and an executive member of the street’s business association.
“The question is whether it’s appropriate to open religious gathering places on a commercial street. I think that right now, because we’re in 2016, it’s not appropriate.”