Excerpt:
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie has pushed forward a parking exemption for Monday's Eid al-Adha celebrations across the city, after a councillor was accused of religious discrimination at Wednesday's council meeting when the exemption was deferred.
"We are an inclusive, multicultural, multi-religious city and country," Crombie said Friday, explaining that after missing Wednesday's council meeting because she was out of the province attending a conference, she was dismayed to hear the parking exemption did not get approved, but was instead referred back to staff for a report to determine which major religious holidays should qualify for city-wide parking exemptions.
"Things have moved quickly — 11 per cent of our population will be celebrating Eid al-Adha on Monday, so my council colleagues and I just approved a temporary parking exemption across the city for Monday. We are notifying all the city's mosques and the public right now."