The Jewish community of Quebec won the first round in the fight to build a new synagogue in that city, when Justice P.E. Cote of the Superior Court maintained a motion by the Beth Israel Congregation, asking that the proceedings by the City of Quebec in connection with an expropriation notice be suspended until final judgment is given in another action by the congregation against the city.
In the other case before the courts the congregation seeks to annul two recently adopted by-laws as illegal, discriminatory and an abuse of power and an undue interference with the rights of religious worship. Under pressure of anti-Semitic elements, the City of Quebec has adopted two by-laws – one prohibiting the building of a synagogue in Montcalm ward where the site is located, and another authorizing the city to expropriate the property. The act of the city council was condemned by the press in various parts of Canada.
The charge that Canada’s federal government has a Jewish exclusion policy was made by Rev. Dr. Frank Morely, minister of Stanley Presbyterian Church, in an address delivered before the Montreal and Ottawa Synod. “Thousands of Jews are dying in agony because we do not give them asylum,” said Dr. Morely. “Our own government has a policy of excluding the Jews. A proper immigration policy would give hope of life to thousands.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
