Published December 16, 2023

Joel Ceausu – The Suburban LJI Reporter

The Town of Mount Royal will not reverse its ban on religious holiday symbols in front of Town Hall, “as the current council continues to support the decision taken by the then municipal council in 2011,” TMR Mayor Peter Malouf told The Suburban.

The Suburban asked the administration if it would reconsider what they call their “statement of principles,” given the current context: Many communities around the world rejoiced with the news that a UK town outside London reversed its decision to ban a menorah on City Hall grounds, followed swiftly by the City Council of Moncton, NB reversing a similar decision it took in haste a week prior to achieve some sort of state neutrality, while maintaining a Christmas tree which it labelled a “Holiday Tree.”

Canadian Jews are witnessing unprecedented levels of antisemitism across the country, and the feeling of insecurity of Jewish communities is palpable, including Jews on the island of Montreal, thousands of whom live in Town of Mount Royal.

Mount Royal is an inclusive community made up of different cultures and origins, said the mayor, “that’s what makes us strong. I know that the members of our Jewish community feel supported and appreciated to the highest degree, and that in the current context they know how to make a difference and understand this decision.”

The TMR decision applied equally to the town’s nativity scene as well as the menorah or any other religious symbols, Malouf said, “and as you correctly mentioned, we do refer to our symbol of the holidays in front of Town Hall as a Holiday Tree.” Malouf said he met with TMR-based Chabad of The Town’s Rabbi Moshe Krasnanski, who inquired about a menorah “and was supportive of the Town maintaining its agnostic position.”

That’s not quite how Krasnanski describes it. “I’m very upset, we are very unhappy,” Krasnanski told The Suburban, just hours before the lighting of the first Hanukkah light. “It’s a terrible policy,” he said, “whatever they want to call their tree. They want to call it a Holiday Tree? Okay so let’s call the menorah Holiday Lights!”

“Now is absolutely not the time to ban celebrations from the public,” he said. “This is about celebrating our identity, who we are.” Asked if it makes any difference that the TMR ban only applies to town hall grounds, Krasnanski said “Listen, it’s about celebrating side by side, who we are, in the community out in the open; we are a different people, but we all live together.”

At the Parliament Hill rally for Canada’s Jewish community on Monday, Thornhill MP Melissa Lantsman challenged communities across Canada to light an extra menorah on behalf of those who cannot, a clear nod to the Moncton council’s decision.

Other Canadian politicians including Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather voiced support for communities wishing to light a menorah, Housefather stating on X last week: “For any city in the country that claims that they are not allowed to light the Menorah on city hall grounds, please note that (like every year) we are doing Hanukkah on Parliament Hill on December 11. By the way the last few years, a Supreme Court Justice lit one of the candles.”

While TMR’s stance was set a few years ago, Housefather, whose riding is home to one of Canada’s largest Jewish communities, reminded all government officials that “this year is not a good time to decide to remove your Hanukkah decorations from their place next to the Christmas ones.”

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