Courtesy: REGINA LEADER-POST
On Monday, city council unanimously approved a prayer hall in a strip mall on Assiniboine Avenue East and Boyle Street, a decision that disappointed Stacey Ferguson. The area resident presented a petition by 96 residents who are “gravely concerned” by the opening of the prayer hall. She said the institution, with its five daily prayers that can occur late at night and very early in the morning, will be “disrupting all of our peace.” Ferguson said she and her neighbours are concerned the prayer hall will bring noise, traffic and added parked cars to the already busy area, and introduce potential car safety issues for school children.
But Islamic association member Mohamed Eldarieby stressed he is a member of the community and will have a vested interest, along with the other patrons, in minimizing the effects of the prayer hall on the surrounding area. Prayers will be limited to 20 people at a time. Many people stay at home for the late evening or early morning prayers, council heard. Prayers will also be scheduled to avoid school pickup and drop-off times, and peak traffic hours. “This will not be a mosque,” emphasized Munir Haque, president of the Regina chapter of the Islamic association. That means large Friday prayers will not be held there. “We do not want to be bad neighbours,” he said. “ I truly hope that those concerns will be unfounded.”
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