Muslim Population Growing in Quebec

February 1, 2004

Source: Montreal Gazette

http://www.canada.com/montreal/story.asp?id=5B7FF5CD-FE6D-4664-B998-7254 CE6B4C32

On February 1, 2004 the Montreal Gazette reported on the growth of the Muslim community in the Quebec province: "There are more than 50 mosques and other prayer rooms in the Montreal area, where many members of Quebec's Muslim community, estimated by its leaders to be 120,000, gather for Friday prayers, and in smaller numbers at other times of the week. (According to the 2001 census, the community had grown to 108,620 from 44,930 a decade earlier.) The growth of the community can be traced to the 1960s, when Canada's immigration policies changed, making it easier for immigrants from non-European cultures to come to this country. In 1965, the National Assembly passed a law recognizing Islam as a religion in Quebec...While the majority in Montreal tends to be of the Sunni tradition (as is the case in the rest of the world), you can find among them Shiites attending Sunni mosques and Sunnis at Shiite centres."