Canada Town Rejects Muslim Cemetery

I guess it is a sign of the times that we live in.  Last Sunday the community of Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec – a small community of about 5000 residents just outside of Quebec City – defeated a referendum that would have allowed a minor zoning change in order to open up the possibility of a Muslim Cemetery in the community.

According to an article on BBC.com, the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre had proposed a site and purchased land in a wooded area adjacent to another cemetery.  A minor zoning change was needed and in the Provincial rules used for such, only people who are affected by the zoning change are allowed to vote.  49 people were eligible to vote and the zoning change allowing the cemetery failed on a 19-16 vote.

Again, according to the article, the town’s decision to oppose the cemetery has led to an outcry among Muslims and civil rights advocates across Canada. The mayor of the town supported the cemetery and has said he fears his town’s reputation has been hurt.

The only Muslim Cemetery in Quebec is in Laval – several hours from Quebec City.

Funeral Director Daily take:  In all honesty this decision is not at all about a cemetery but about nationalism, immigration, and prejudice.  And while this takes place in Canada, and most or our readers are Americans, actions like this have taken place, and we have written about them in the U.S.A. also.

It just shows that we have a lot of “coming together” necessary by ourselves to get over this issue.  I don’t have any great and easy answers but do believe that it starts with acceptance of immigrants by current citizens and then the immigrants willingness to “become a citizen” of that country and its social mores.

I look back at my own small community in Minnesota.  One hundred years ago we were far from a melting pot but a group of communities — each who settled near their common immigrants – and we had pockets of Finnish people, Norwegian people, Swedish people, and German people.  As an aside here, I have learned that our funeral business prospered because my great grandfather – our founder who came from Sweden – could speak seven languages.  All of these groups had their own churches – which are still in our community today.  They were the Finnish Apostolic Church, the Norwegian Lutheran Church, the Svea (Swedish) Lutheran Church and the German Lutheran Church and services were conducted in the native languages.

Then World War I came upon us and it was not very vogue to be a German.  So, the German Lutheran Church became Zion Lutheran Church and others soon changed their names to be more faith based – and less nationality based – in order to capture new members from all walks of life.  They also started doing services in the English language.

I tell this not as a history lesson but more of how we need to come together — that willingness to become a citizen and learn the language, understand the school system, and volunteer along side your neighbors in the community is what will bring us together.  It takes time and work, but it can happen — and it needs to happen so simple things like cemeteries can be established for our fellow citizens.[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Posted in ,

Funeral Director Daily

Leave a Comment





Subscribe to Funeral Director Daily
Enter your email address to join 3,502 readers who subscribe to all Funeral Director articles.

advertise here banner