The City of Montreal assures that it does not have the last word in the tax holiday granted to a Muslim center where a speaker openly celebrates the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Reacting to a report from our Bureau of Investigation, the mayor’s office made it clear that tax holidays allocated to places of worship are ultimately a decision of the Quebec Municipal Commission, “responsible to the Government of Quebec” .
“The City is consulted and issues an analysis based on the objective criteria established by law to give its favorable opinion or not for a tax exemption,” indicated Ms. Gaudreault.
The City emphasized that the decision to grant or not the exemption ultimately rests exclusively with the CMQ.
The City, however, has the power to issue an unfavorable recommendation, as it did in 2016 in the case of the same center. According to the City’s explanations, the usage situation of the building had changed between 2016 and 2020. The floors covered by the request were unoccupied at the time of the first request.
Remark condemned
“We strongly condemn any comments inciting hatred which have no place in our city. Montreal is a city of peace where the values of inclusion and respect must prevail at all times,” said Marikym Gaudreault, deputy director in the office of Mayor Valérie Plante.
Our Bureau of Investigation reported Monday that a Muslim center where a speaker works who openly celebrated the attacks of October 7, 2023 in Israel and advocates the terrorist group Hamas, has benefited from a tax exemption in Montreal since 2020 .
In recent weeks, our Bureau of Investigation has identified disturbing speeches and writings broadcast by this speaker, Iyad AbuHamed, in which he speaks of the terrorist attacks that occurred a year ago as a great victory.
In August, he called for jihad (holy war), during an event called “Night of Rage” in Montreal. We then paid tribute to Ismaël Haniyeh, leader of Hamas (a group considered terrorist by Canada) assassinated in Iran.
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