Quebec Muslims to finally get own cemetery for burials

Quebec’s Muslim community was shocked when a gunman in January killed six men and injured 19 others during an attack in the city’s main mosque. (Reuters)

QUEBEC: Muslims in Quebec City are finally going to have a plot of land for the burial of their beloved ones after the city has conditionally accepted an offer from the Islamic community to buy land near a local cemetery.
The 6,000 square-meter parcel of land, which sits on a former snow dump next to the Notre-Dame-de-Belmont cemetery and close to the Quebec Islamic Cultural Center, is being sold by the city for about $270,000 (SR1 million) plus taxes. It is expected to be ready this fall.
The good news comes just weeks after Saint-Apollinaire, a town of around 6,000 southwest of Quebec City, rejected a zoning change proposal during a referendum that would have allowed for a Muslim cemetery to be built there.
Tradition dictates that burial should take place, preferably within 24 hours, after a Muslim person dies. The cremation and burying of ashes is forbidden in the Muslim faith.
Quebec City’s Islamic community has been looking for a cemetery for two decades, but made a renewed push after they completed the payment for the city’s main mosque in 2011.
A gunman killed six men and injured 19 others in the main prayer hall of the mosque during a shooting in January.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a message over Twitter, congratulated the Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume for taking action, calling the move “an important and courageous step for dignity and decency.”