Referendum on places of worship in Montreal's Outremont borough has Hasidic community worried

A referendum on a bylaw prohibiting newplaces of worship on one of Outremont's main streets has members of the Montreal borough's Hasidic Jewishcommunity concerned.

Residentswill voteSunday onwhether to overturn the banon Bernard Avenue, a tree-lined strip dotted with restaurants, cafes and residential buildings.

The bylaw, introduced last year, forbids new temples of worshipof any denomination from opening on the street. But the borough's sizeable and growing ultra-Orthodox Hasidiccommunity feels targeted.

• 'It's very painful for us': Hasidic community worried by Outremont ban

"Hasidicpeople inOutremontare close to 25 per cent of the population, which isquite a big population," said AlexWerzberger,president of the Coalition ofOutremontHasidicOrganizations.

"Close to 8 to 9,000people. Are we supposed to stuff them all into one synagogue on Bernard?"

Ban on Bernard would mean a ban in Outremont

Theregulation was introduced in 2015after the borough approved a permit for a synagogue on Bernard.

In response, the borough decidedtopass a law banning all new places of worshipon two key arteries,Bernard Avenue andLaurierAvenue, with the aim of creating "winning conditions" for local businesses.

TheLaurierban wasn't contested and the other major street, VanHorneAvenue,hashad a similar ban since the late1990s.

A vote in favour of the Bernard banwould therefore effectively block any new synagogues in the borough.

Francine Brule,co-owner of the Les Enfants Terribles, a high-end bistro on Bernard, supports the bylaw.

Brulesays many people in the Hasidic community don't frequent her restaurant or other businesses in the area.

"They do their own things and that's okay," she said. "But if there's more and more and more, the other stores and the other restaurants will suffer,I think."

Business argument 'doesn't hold water'

Mindy Pollak, a local councillor for Projet Montral and herself a Hasidic Jew, said she's concerned residents don't understand the implications of the ban.

She added that thepro-business argument "just doesn't hold water."

Pollak pointed to Parc Avenue, located just outside the Outremont borough boundary, where synagogues recently opened up on a "block that was completely abandoned and neglected before. So obviously, not bad for commercial use."

Pollak said there was high voter turnout at advance polls, which is promising in terms of "voter participation and citizen engagement, so that's always good news for me."

"This has been traditionally a Jewish community, and this is kind of absurd to ask them not to be here," she said.

Long history in Outremont

This isn't the first time Outremont, which is home to a large and wealthy francophone population, has been the site of conflict with the Hasidic community.

In the past, the community has engaged in battles with Outremont council over the use of charter buses in residential streets and the placement of the eruv, the symbolic enclosure made of string used to carry items on the Sabbath.

In 2006, news that the neighbourhood YMCA had switched to frosted windows to obscure Hasidic students' view of women in exercise wear spurred a debate over the reasonable accommodation of minorities which has never quite subsided.

Earlier this year, a Hasidic school near Outremont was raided by youth protection officials because of concern it was not following the provincial curriculum.

• ANALYSIS |Hasidic school raid puts spotlight on conundrum facing Education Ministry

RenaudCharest, who has lived in Outremont for three years, said he still hasn't made up his mind about how he will vote on Sunday.

"I get the pointof wanting to develop the neighbourhood with new shops and restaurants and things, but I also get the point of freedom of religion and expression," he said. "Which one is more important here?"

Residents can vote between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. at theCentre d'ducationdes adultes Outremont, at 500Dollard,Blvd. More details are available here.