TORONTO — Two men say a parking restriction in the City of Mississauga that’s in effect during Friday prayer services discriminates against Muslims and they’re asking the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to back their claim.
Salman Khalid, 32, is an emergency physician at a hospital about half an hour from the ISNA Canada Centre, a mosque he and his family have always attended in Mississauga, west of Toronto. In May 2012, he was given a ticket for parking on nearby Finfar Court rather than the mosque’s parking lot, while attending Friday prayer services.
The bylaw states that parking is prohibited on the side street, approximately one block from the mosque, between 12-3 p.m. on Fridays.
But this coincides with the mosque’s hours of prayer service on Islam’s holiest day of the week, according to Salman’s father, Muhammad.
“This is our Sabbath day. The Christians have Sundays, the Jewish people have Saturdays, the Muslims have Friday,” said Mr. Khalid, the elder. “It is at noontime. It’s not in the evenings, it’s not in the morning. It is specified in the Koran that that’s the time.”
