Hoax Confirmed: Anti-Semitism in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts (2018)

Now if you are anything like me. You will have never heard of the quiet Canadian Québécois town of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, but you may have down as it exploded into the news in 2018 as it has been forced to evict a group of ultra-Orthodox jews.

I quote ‘The Province’ for the details:

‘A group of Hasidic Jews in a town north of Montreal will be forced to leave the residence where they’ve been staying following a Quebec Superior Court injunction, the town’s mayor said Sunday.

Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts Mayor Denis Chalifoux said the town sought the court order because the group is using the residence as a place of worship, in violation of local bylaws.

Chalifoux alleges that up to 60 mostly young people come to stay temporarily in two or three duplexes or triplexes on the property each summer, where he says they hold loud gatherings that disturb neighbours.

“They create a nuisance, there’s garbage all around the house, they go to bed at 2 a.m. and bang drums,” he said in a phone interview.

Chalifoux said the neighbourhood is zoned for residential use only, and the rules do not permit buildings to be used as places of worship, dormitories, or summer camps.

He said the town has sent numerous letters, warnings and citations since 2015 to try to resolve the conflict, but had no success.

Representatives from the group could not be reached for comment.

But on Saturday, Montreal’s La Presse newspaper quoted an anonymous member of the group as saying the problem wasn’t the group’s behaviour, but rather the fact that its members were Jewish.

Chalifoux, for his part, denies the eviction order is based on anti-Semitism, noting that the area is home to a large Jewish population and there haven’t been any similar conflicts with other groups.

“The Jewish community has been here (in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts) for 100 years or more,” he said.

“They founded the city with us, and we have a very good relationship with them.”

While the injunction originally required the group to leave by Sunday, Chalifoux said the city has extended the deadline and the community has agreed to leave by July 26.

“We gave them until July 26 to leave because there are young children with them and I imagine those kids need to go elsewhere,” he said, adding that the city had a “good collaboration” with the group at the moment.’ (1)

The irony here is that the ultra-Orthodox jews – as well as jewish community’s media outlets on both the political left and right – (2) were screaming that the eviction was ‘motivated by anti-Semitism’ but singularly failed to note the obvious point. That the group of jews concerned were only being evicted in isolation and as the result of repeated violations of local bylaws as well as making the lives of their neighbours a living hell.

This group of ultra-Orthodox jews were given more than ample time to mend their ways but completely refused to do so and it showcases both the remarkable leniency and patience of the non-jewish authorities and residents of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts as well as the singular jewish habit of being utterly obnoxious to everyone around them, but also unwilling to accommodate non-jews.

The simple fact is that the jews were at fault here and the only fault that can reasonably be found with the authorities and residents of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts is that they didn’t evict the jews sooner or just completely from their charming little town.

References

(1) https://theprovince.com/news/canada/quebec-town-gets-injunction-to-order-hasidic-jewish-group-from-residence/wcm/e4683b24-467c-401c-838e-e1aba0c29fc7

(2) https://forward.com/fast-forward/405309/hasids-ousted-from-quebec-summer-homes-over-noise-and-sloppiness/ and https://www.timesofisrael.com/quebec-court-evicts-hasidic-jews-from-homes-over-bylaw-violations/