New Temple for Hindu Community

June 21, 2008

Author: Jeff Heinrich

Source: The Gazette

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=deeaf242-d222-487a-9b32-fcc26236475e

Montreal's small but burgeoning Hindu community will open a $5.6-million temple in Park Extension today, more than doubling the size of the old one that was there.

"It shows we're proud and happy to keep our traditions, our religion and our culture," said Harish Patel, president of the charity that built the temple.

Named after the Hindu deity Ram, Ramji Temple is on Durocher St. near Jarry St. W. It can hold 500 people.

"The old temple was 60 by 50 square feet. This one is 150 by 80," Patel, who owns a nearby Lajeunesse St. motel, said before a visit to the temple this week.

Also on the premises is a small language school (French for adults, Hindi and Gujarati for youths who already know French).

Construction under local architect Gurdip S. Trehin began 21/2 years ago. Money was raised from Hindu faithful in Montreal, Toronto and New York, Patel said. The two-storey temple sits next to a Sikh temple, proof that the two faiths get along well in Quebec, said Trehin, who himself is Sikh.

Bouyed by rising numbers of immigrants from India, Hinduism is growing here and throughout Canada.