Tuesday, March 20, 2018
MAYOR TO SET UP DIALOGUE GROUP TO EASE OUTREMONT TENSIONS
Philipe Tomlinson, the mayor of the Montreal borough of Outremont, said he will create a committee, composed half of Hasidic residents, tasked with coming up with solutions to the conflict between the Orthodox Jewish community and some other residents.
Tomlinson, a member of Projet Montréal who became mayor after last November’s municipal elections, is trying to ease tensions after a small number of residents wore yellow patches to protest the proliferation of school buses used by the Hasidic community.
He believes dialogue is the answer.
“Whether or not their intention was to be hurtful, it was offensive and unacceptable to wear the yellow squares in our political dialogue, or anywhere else,” Tomlinson said in video posted on Facebook, titled, Let’s work on what unites us and we will diminish what divides us.
He stressed that those who showed up at a March 5 borough council meeting wearing the yellow pieces of fabric pinned to their clothing represent “a small group that has decided once again to contest the Hasidic way of life in Outremont.… This time their actions have gone too far.”
The “good neighbours” committee he proposes will include a round table where each side can gain an understanding of the other group’s needs and concerns, particularly relating to municipal regulations.
The recommendations the committee makes will be “based on expert opinion and consensus,” he said. “We will put an end to these tensions in the next months or years.”
Tomlinson said the “high intensity and friction” that has characterized complaints against the Hasidim have gone on for too long and that he regrets the international media attention the yellow-patch incident attracted.
“We are much bigger and better than that. We live in one of the best areas, best neighbourhoods in the world. We are in a very privileged situation,” he said.
http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/mayor-to-set-up-dialogue-group-to-ease-outremont-tensions
Tomlinson, a member of Projet Montréal who became mayor after last November’s municipal elections, is trying to ease tensions after a small number of residents wore yellow patches to protest the proliferation of school buses used by the Hasidic community.
He believes dialogue is the answer.
“Whether or not their intention was to be hurtful, it was offensive and unacceptable to wear the yellow squares in our political dialogue, or anywhere else,” Tomlinson said in video posted on Facebook, titled, Let’s work on what unites us and we will diminish what divides us.
He stressed that those who showed up at a March 5 borough council meeting wearing the yellow pieces of fabric pinned to their clothing represent “a small group that has decided once again to contest the Hasidic way of life in Outremont.… This time their actions have gone too far.”
The “good neighbours” committee he proposes will include a round table where each side can gain an understanding of the other group’s needs and concerns, particularly relating to municipal regulations.
The recommendations the committee makes will be “based on expert opinion and consensus,” he said. “We will put an end to these tensions in the next months or years.”
Tomlinson said the “high intensity and friction” that has characterized complaints against the Hasidim have gone on for too long and that he regrets the international media attention the yellow-patch incident attracted.
“We are much bigger and better than that. We live in one of the best areas, best neighbourhoods in the world. We are in a very privileged situation,” he said.
http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/mayor-to-set-up-dialogue-group-to-ease-outremont-tensions
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