QUEBEC — Muslims in Quebec City are going to have their own cemetery after all.
Mayor Regis Labeaume and representatives of the city's Muslim community made the announcement at a news conference today.
The cemetery is expected to be ready this fall and will be located on a parcel of land of about 6,000 square metres the city is selling to the Muslim community for about $270,000.
The news comes just three weeks after a proposal aimed at setting up a Muslim cemetery in a town southwest of Quebec City was defeated in a referendum by a 19-16 margin.
Quebec City's Muslims have been looking for a cemetery for two decades, but made a renewed push after they completed the payment for the city's main mosque in 2011.
It was there last January that a gunman shot dead six men in the main prayer hall and injured 19 others. The bodies were sent overseas and to Montreal for burial.