Quebec City will finally get its first Muslim cemetery.
Members at the Islamic Cultural Centre will invest $215,000 into a plot of land in St-Apollinaire, west of Levis.
The land was not purchased from the municipality, but rather a funeral home called Harmonia.
The 60,000 square-foot plot of land is about a 30 minute drive away from Quebec City. It's also far cheaper than a corresponding amount of territory within Quebec City.
"We had discussions about what they need, what the community needs, and what is our own project, and we see that there is a kind of connection," said Sylvain Roy, the director of operations for Harmonia.
The Islamic centre has been working to establish a cemetery in the area for the past 20 years, a problem that was highlighted after six men were murdered inside a mosque in Ste-Foy last month.
The bodies of five of the six men were repatriated to their home countries, and one was buried in Montreal.
Mohamed Labidi of the Islamic Culture Centre said setting up a cemetery involves dealing with municipal and provincial bureaucrats.
"Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, sometimes the Ministry of Agriculture. This is why it's a very complicated file to deal with," said Labidi.
Bernard Ouellet, the mayor of St-Apollinaire, believes residents will be amenable to the cemetery.
"I think our citizeens, they will be accepting of this," he said.
The five Muslim cemeteries in the province are all found in the Montreal area, despite Quebec City having between 8,000 and 10,000 Muslims.
