REGINA — It has been roughly three weeks since Regina City Jamia Masjid was permitted to apply for weekly permits to broadcast its call to prayer.
The permits are approved by the Regina Police Service (RPS). After the mosque conducted surveys to determine whether its weekly Friday call to prayer broadcasts should continue following significant backlash, RPS Chief Lorilee Davies, at a media scrum on Thursday said the request met the criteria under the city’s amplification bylaw.
“We consider the things that are in the bylaw. So the time of day, the area of the city, the noise level, the length of the sound — those are the things that we consider when reviewing those applications.”
The call to prayer occurs for roughly three minutes on Friday afternoons, with an English translation at the end.
Davies confirmed the survey results did not play a role in their approval of the permit.
Regina City Jamia Masjid director M. Anisur Rahaman previously said they received roughly 220 respondents, noting 22 out of 30 of those in the local area did not approve of the broadcast from misinformed facts.
“Some of them think that we are starting the call to prayer once a week and ending at five times a day. There are also some of them who mentioned that the Canadian fast-food restaurants are becoming halal restaurants. Some of them also mentioned that Canada is a Christian country.”
Rahaman also noted people were concerned about the broadcast occurring five times a day, leading to a weekly permit application to address those concerns.
“It was important for us to make it clear that each application can be submitted to us. We will review each request and determine whether it meets the requirements under the bylaw,” said Davies.
Davies acknowledged that the call to prayer has sparked significant discussion, but assured the public that police will take the appropriate measures to ensure safety if any issues arise.
“If we receive information that a number of people are going to gather there, potentially for a protest or another event, we’ll need to ensure we have the appropriate resources in place, as we would for any incident. Any time a large number of people gather, we need to ensure everyone’s safety. We evaluate that for every event and will continue to monitor the situation and determine what resources are needed.”
No other amplification permit requests for broadcasting religion have been made to the RPS, said Davies.
