The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled in favour of a small Laurentian town that wants to stop the Belz Chasidic community from using two chalets as a Shul and Yeshiva. But the Belz Kehilla say they’re not giving in and will apply to have their case heard at the Supreme Court of Canada.

The tranquil town, about 90 kilometres northwest of Montreal, claims the group lied about how the two cottages would be used when it applied about 20 years ago for a building permit.

While the congregation’s lawyer, Julius Grey, said “the essence of freedom of religion prevails over laws and bylaws,” the court ruled that freedom of religion doesn’t give one the right to worship or to build a religious school wherever one wants.

The members of the community, totalling about 200 people, have been spending eight-week summer vacations in Val Morin for more than 20 years in 16 cottages scattered along the Rivière du Nord. Non-Jewish residents have complained “the Chassidim create garbage, traffic and noise.”

That judge in the Superior Court judgment on the case wrote, and the appeal court concurs, that the Belz community could replace the Shul and the Yeshiva , by building on 186,000 square feet of land it owns nearby.

But the community argues that land is mostly swamp and is not usable. They also claim to be too poor to afford to build elsewhere.

(Source: Montreal Gazette)