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Elected officials in the Borough of Villeray/St-Michel/Park Extension say they will investigate following a complaint by a Querbes Avenue resident about religious sermons taking place at an Eastern Orthodox church that are being broadcast over loudspeakers into the streets. “When I first moved here, I would sit on the balcony and I’d hear a religious sermon and I had no idea where this was coming from,” Leslie Lutzky, who’s lived on Querbes for the past 17 years, told the borough council on June 2.
Permit needed?
“Was there a radio on some place? And I knew it was Eastern Orthodox, but I had no idea why I was hearing this and what was going on. I did some inquiring and found out that one of the churches on St. Roch Street a block and a half away are doing sermons. They’re broadcasting it outside on the street, and I inquired about it and I found out that they had a permit for this.
“This street is public in Park Extension where many religious and cultural communities live here,” he continued. “And yet it’s only one church ― the Eastern Orthodox ― that seems to be allowed to do that and I’d like to know why they have the right to broadcast publicly on the street when certainly not all the people are of the same religion. So my question is why is the church allowed to broadcast religious services onto the streets?”
Samson surprised!
Borough Mayor Anie Samson said she was surprised to hear that any kind of permit would allow sermons to be broadcast outdoors. “I’m going to ask the services to check, because I’m very surprised that a church can have that kind of permit,” she said. “So we’ll make some verifications about it.” According to Park Extension city councillor Mary Deros, permits are in fact issued for such purposes, although for special events. “For certain public events, there are special permits that are given ― for example when they do a procession on the street,” she said.
“And so when there are thousands of people in front of the church, the permit is given for that. On the other days when they have the speakers on, I am not aware of a permit having been issued. That is something that the services will verify. I understand your concern and it is true that things have evolved over the years. This is no longer predominantly just one type of community. It is a wonderful diversity that we have and I think there should be respect of one another and we all should live in harmony. But for special events when they do come out for a procession we do give permits.”
Late night basketball complaint
A Park Extension resident, who said she was speaking on behalf of people living on Stuart and Wiseman avenues between Liège and d’Anvers, complained about people playing basketball on the grounds of Sinclair Laird Elementary School on Wiseman. “They’re there at six o’clock in the morning, one o’clock in the morning, two o’clock, and if you go to ask them to move, they’re not very polite, let me tell you,” she said. “This is not something new,” responded Deros. “I know that in the past our police department has often intervened, and what they found was that it was the youth from TMR coming to play in the park.”
According to Deros, law enforcement is so strict in TMR, that youths from the neighbouring community come to Park Extension if they want to play basketball late at night. Deros said she would ask Montreal Police Station 33 Commander André-Guy Lamothe whether some cruisers could pass by the school more often so that anyone there at too late an hour could be asked to stop or could be redirected to the basketball courts at the William Hingston Centre and in Howard Park. Deros said she would be meeting with the principal of Sinclair Laird to discuss what action the school can also take.
Park Ex firehall repairs
The borough council has given the green light for a refurbishment project at the Montreal Fire Department’s Station 41 at the corner of Ogilvy and Champagneur avenues. The building’s exterior façade will be repaired. Deros says she was able to convince executive-committee chairman Claude Dauphin that the Centre City should pick up the tab during a visit he made last year to Park Extension. “I said either we build a new one on land we bought, or bring me some money to renovate it,” she told NPEN. “And within months, they found $1.5 million.”