The City of Moncton’s abrupt decision to quietly halt the display of all religious symbols on municipal property—including the Hanukkah menorah it owns—came as a shock to the New Brunswick city’s Jewish community. The decision was made on Nov. 27 during a closed-door council session. It came one week before the community was expecting to participate in the annual lighting of the menorah, a tradition that’s been celebrated at City Hall for 20 years.
The resulting public outcry over the weekend has included a petition, social media posts from all over the world and a flood of emails to the municipality. While the mayor has not commented, the issue is likely to be revisited on Dec. 4, when Moncton’s city council holds its bimonthly public meeting. At least three city councillors have publicly condemned how the process was conducted in secret, including Ward two councillor Daniel Bourgeois, who vowed to The CJN he’ll try to have the issue added to the agenda when the meeting starts at 4 p.m. local time.
For more information including an interview with Bourgeois and also by Leigh Lampert, a Moncton-born lawyer who is a member of that city’s Jewish community:
The growing list of petition signatures and comments has kindly been forwarded to Lampert for presentation to City Council on Monday.