Four out of five councillors in Outremont have voted in favour of a controversial zoning bylaw restricting new places of worship in the borough.
In front of a packed council chamber, every councillor but vocal opponent Mindy Pollack voted in favour of the resolution that would isolate new places of worship to one particular part of the borough, near Van Horne Ave. It would not affect current places of worship, but new ones would be forced to establish themselves outside the commercial heart of the borough on Bernard and Laurier avenues.
Supporters of the bylaw said the decision was made to help support businesses in the area and create a public secular space.
"We are not a religious community now and this is our, like I told you, it's our community life these streets," said Ginette Chartre.
Those who oppose the bylaw said it divides the community and pushes religious people into a ghetto, and vowed to continue fighting.
"Well, no one pushed us into a corner as the borough of Outremont is trying to do," said Mendy Sternfeld. "There are a lot of boroughs that did some restrictions. We went through them. They left a lot more space that just one little corner next to the train tracks."
The vote came after heavily attended public consultations on the matter where hundreds of Hasidic Jews who live in Outremont who called the proposal discriminatory.
Projet Montreal is against the bylaw, saying religious communities have the right to establish themselves wherever they wish and it's a right that should not be constrained, adding that the matter should be determined citywide, and not on the borough level.
Borough mayor Mari Cinq-Mars said she feels the bylaw is misunderstood.
"There has always been a gap between the communities here," said Cinq-Mars.
"I'm sorry that it's becoming that the main subject is a religious subject because we didn't do that. That wasn't my purpose."
If the borough receives enough signatures on a petition it could be forced to hold a referendum on the bylaw.
Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey sent the borough a letter of intent on Monday which stated that should Outremont approve the bylaw, the borough will be seeing a challenge to it in court.
