Minority Places of Worship and Zoning Dilemmas in Montreéal

Abstract

Places of worship have become a thorny issue for urban planning in Montréal in the 1990s following new immigration fluxes into the metropolitan area. A moratorium on new places of worship and local controversies illustrates the uneasiness of the situation for local planning authorities. Drawing on preliminary research results on the siting or expansion of 16 places of worship, this paper explores the multiple issues underlying the zoning dilemmas faced by municipalities. It then focuses on two controversies in adjacent neighbourhoods to discuss the role played by micro-local political and socio-cultural dynamics in the urban planning process. In this regard, the findings suggest that pragmatic negotiations concerning the sharing of public space become a central issue in ethnically mixed neighbourhoods, but also in situations where religion is a factor of cultural differentiation.