Article content

The mayor of St-Apollinaire says he has no intention of reopening the debate over a Muslim cemetery in his town any time soon.

“For the moment, we have done our bit and we’re going to take a break, I hope for a long time, from the issue,” Bernard Ouellet, mayor of the town 45 kilometres southwest of Quebec City, told the Montreal Gazette.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or St-Apollinaire mayor won't reopen debate over Muslim cemetery Back to video

“I don’t want to put the population through something like this again soon.”

The issue of opening a Muslim cemetery on land now owned by a cremation company divided the town’s 5,800 residents.

Residents signed a register compelling St-Apollinaire to hold a referendum in which 49 people in an area around the cemetery were allowed to vote. In a referendum Sunday, the cemetery was defeated by a vote of 19 to 16.

Ouellet, who said “fear and disinformation” led to the rejection, wanted a town-wide referendum but Quebec law would not allow that. If all residents had been eligible, “it would have been more likely that the Yes side would have won,” he said.