Quebec mayor reaches out to French-speaking Muslim immigrants

Europenews

Globe and Mail 18 March 2011
By INGRID PERITZ

Like small-town mayors everywhere, Stéphane Gendron is trying to entice newcomers to settle in his community. But he may be the only one whose enticement offers include a promise to build a mosque and halal slaughterhouse.
Mr. Gendron, a frank-talking mayor with a knack for publicity coups, has stepped into the limelight again by announcing he wants to counter his town’s population decline through Muslim immigration.
He’s got a charm offensive sketched out, starting with a visit to a Montreal mosque this Friday to address potential residents after prayers. He’s taking out an ad in an Arab-community publication, and this spring plans to charter buses to his town for what he calls "speed dating.”
Though open to all immigration, Mr. Gendron says, he’s especially keen on courting people from the French-speaking Maghreb region of North Africa.
"Before Sept. 11, we used to say people from the Maghreb are marvelous, they’re our francophone cousins, they integrate well,” he says. "Now, they’re treated like terrorists.” (...)