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This measure adopted by the city in 2010 has the effect of encouraging ghettoization and an accessibility problem

On Jan. 12, Superior Court Justice Jean-Yves Lalonde provided the groups some hope with a ruling in favour of the Badr Islamic Centre in Montreal’s Saint-Léonard borough. Responding to complaints about worshippers at Friday prayer taking up parking spots, the borough changed its zoning in 2004 to prohibit religious ceremonies.

The judge found the change violated the centre’s acquired rights, but he went further to find subsequent zoning changes that restricted places of worship to an industrial area infringed on constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms.

“This measure adopted by the city in 2010 has the effect of encouraging ghettoization and an accessibility problem and proves to be, in a way, discriminatory with relation to traditional Catholic churches that are typically in residential neighbourhoods in Montreal,” Lalonde wrote.

Frédéric Dejean, a researcher at Montreal’s Collège de Maisonneuve, has studied what he calls “religious zoning.” He said it has been used to restrict evangelical Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hassidic Jews as well as Muslims.

While there can be legitimate urban-planning reasons for wanting to specify where places of worship can be established, Dejean said the practical rules are often invoked to hide political motives. And he said it is risky for zoning inspectors to be tasked with deciding what constitutes a religious activity.

In Mascouche, the Essalam Community Centre won a reprieve last July pending a final decision in its court challenge. Superior Court Justice Brian Riordan suggested the municipality had been hasty in condemning the centre for refusing to prohibit prayer within its walls. “Not prohibiting prayer does not automatically mean the place becomes a religious building,” he said. A spokesperson for the centre declined comment while the case remains before the courts.