Is the ban on operating a synagogue near the Mont-Tremblant resort an attack on freedom of religion? No, the Quebec Court of Appeal has just ruled in a case opposing a group of Orthodox Jews to the City of Mont-Tremblant.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
The Chabad Loubavitch youth organization has operated a place of worship since 2011 in a house on Desmarais Road, in a residential area near the tourist resort of Mont-Tremblant.
Why in this place? So that customers who frequent the synagogue can get there on foot from the tourist resort. Indeed, the beliefs of the faithful are such that they cannot drive or use a car on the Sabbath.
However, the clientele of the synagogue is made up of 80% of tourists on vacation at the tourist resort, from the United States, Israel and England, and 20% of faithful who have a second home located a few minutes away. walk from the synagogue, we learn in the judgment of the Court of Appeal, rendered on September 29.
A case that dates back to 2012
But in the sector of the tourist resort, no place of worship is allowed, according to the zoning regulations of the City of Mont-Tremblant. The youth organization Chabad Lubavitch applied for a zoning change in 2012, but it was rejected by the city council.
In 2014, an infraction notice was issued to the organization, particularly following complaints from the neighborhood about traffic, parking and noise problems.
The youth organization Chabad Loubavitch challenged this offense notice, first in Municipal Court, then in Superior Court, and now in the Court of Appeal. She argued that the zoning by-law interfered with the religious freedom of the faithful.
But the judges rejected this argument.
“Freedom of religion protects the free exercise of religion and imposes an obligation of neutrality on the state. Freedom of religion does not create a right of access to resorts. “, writes judge Stéphane Sansfaçon, of the Court of Appeal, in the decision rendered on September 29.
The choice to participate in recreational tourism activities at the Station is a personal choice and is not protected by freedom of religion.
Stéphane Sansfaçon, judge of the Court of Appeal
The municipal by-law does not prevent the Chabad Lubavitch youth organization from setting up a synagogue in another area of the municipality, where zoning permits.
However, the nearest vacant lot to the tourist resort that could accommodate a synagogue is 4.7 kilometers away.
Neither the Chabad Loubavitch youth organization nor the City of Mont-Tremblant wished to share their comments following the judgment.