Canada dedicates cemetery to Muslims in Quebec

Ottawa, Aug 5 (IANS/WAM) Muslims in Canada's Quebec City are going to have their own cemetery, the citys mayor and members of the Muslim community said.

The announcement on Friday came three weeks after a referendum narrowly defeated the establishment of a Muslim-only burial ground -- a project headed by the Quebec Islamic Culture Centre -- in a nearby town.

Quebec City Mayor R?gis Labeaume announced the land deal, explaining that city regulations allowed for the creation of a cemetery on the property.

The 6,000-square metre site will open later this year and will be the first Muslim-owned and operated cemetery in the Quebec City region.

"It's a great day," said Mohamed Labidi, head of the Quebec Islamic Culture Centre. "It is a historic day for Quebec City. Today, we are reaping the benefits of 20 years of hard work," he added.

Boufeidja Benabdallah, Interim Coordinator of the cemetery project, said the cemetery means Muslim families in the area will not have to face a long trip to visit the graves of their deceased relatives and friends. The current closest Muslim cemetery is 266 kilometres away.

The new site is next to the Notre-Dame-de-Belmont cemetery, and near the centre, where six Muslims were gunned down by a white supremacist earlier this year.

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