Mayor of Dorval, Quebec refuses to ban pork in school canteens? Fact Check

A message is spreading across social media that claims the mayor of Dorval, a suburb in Montreal, Quebec, penned a strongly worded letter to parents of school children which refused to remove pork items from school canteens, which according to the message, Muslim parents had been demanding.

Other variants of the same hoax have also attributed it to other areas, including Belgium and Perth in Australia.

FALSE

This is a hoax that can be traced back to early 2015 and is based on an even earlier Internet hoax. The claim that this message was penned by the major of Dorval is fake and the claim that Muslim parents have demanded pork be removed from school canteens is unfounded.

An example of the warning can be read below –

LOCAL MAYOR REFUSES TO REMOVE PORK FROM SCHOOL CANTEEN MENU AND EXPLAINS WHY.
Muslim parents have demanded the abolition of pork in all the school
canteens of a Montreal suburb. It seems it is offensive to the Muslim
families and shows much disrespect.
The mayor of the Montreal suburb of Dorval, has refused, and the town
clerk sent a note to all parents in the municipality to explain why.
The following is what the note stated:
Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Canada and
Quebec, its customs, its traditions, its way of life, because that is
where they chose to immigrate. They must understand that they have to
integrate and learn to live in Quebec. They must understand that it is
for them to change their lifestyle, not the Canadians who so
generously welcomed them.
They must understand that Canadians are neither racist nor
xenophobic, they accepted many immigrants before Muslims (Whereas the
reverse is not true, in that ALL Muslim states do not accept
non-Muslim immigrants.).
They must also understand that, no more than other nations, Canadians
are not willing to give up their identity nor their culture. And if
Canada is a land of welcome, it is not just the Mayor of Dorval who
welcomes foreigners, but the Canadian-Quebecois people as a whole. “
Finally, they must understand that in Canada (Quebec) with its
Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious
festivals, religion must remain in the private domain. Therefore, the
municipality of Dorval was right to refuse any concessions to Islam
and Sharia.
For Muslims who disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable
in Canada, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most
of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open halal arms
in accordance with Shariah law. If you left your country for Canada,
and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered
that life is better in Canada than elsewhere. So, ask yourself the
question, just once, “Why is it better here in Canada than where you
come from?
A canteen with pork is part of the answer.
If you feel the same about this subject, please share,

 
So popular was the hoax in 2015 that the mayor’s office in Dorval received plenty of calls from Internet users mistakenly believing the message to be real, and subsequently released a press statement asserting the rumour was nothing more than religious hate mongering.

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A more critical look at the message would perhaps reveal that it wasn’t likely to have been penned by a politician. For one, the message begins with the bold implication that all Muslims are immigrants, which is obviously something that is untrue.

It appears this variant of the rumour stems back to an almost identical 2013 version that targeted Ath in Belgium. That rumour had claimed that then-mayor Marc Duvivier penned the letter sent home to parents. That was also false, and Duvivier also rejected the claim. That earlier example, which is below, is almost verbatim to the hoax above, with only the identity of the alleged author being the difference.

PORK IN SCHOOL CANTEENS
A REAL MAYOR WHO REFUSES TO REMOVE PORK FROM THE SCHOOL CANTEENS EXPLAINS WHY
Muslim parents demanded the abolition of pork in all the school canteens of Ath in Belgium.
Marc Duvivier the mayor of Ath, has refused, and the town clerk sent a note to all parents to explain why.
“Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Belgium, its customs, its traditions, its way of life, because that’s where they chose to immigrate.
They must understand that they have to integrate and learn to live in Belgium.
They must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle, not the Belgians who so generously welcomed them.
They must understand that the Athois are neither racist nor xenophobic, they accepted many immigrants before Muslims (whereas the reverse is not true that Muslims do not accept non-Muslim foreigners on their soil).
That no more than other nations, the Belgians are not willing to give up their identity, their culture.
And if Belgium is a land of welcome, it’s not Marc Duvivier that welcomes foreigners, but the Belgian people as a whole.
Finally, they must understand that in Belgium with its Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious festivals, religion must remain in the private domain. The municipality of Ath was right to refuse any concessions to Islam and Sharia.
For Muslims that disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable in Belgium, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open halal arms in accordance with Shariah.
If you left your country for Belgium, and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered that life is better in Belgium than elsewhere.
Ask yourself the question, just once, “Why is it better here in Belgium than where you come from?”
A canteen with pork is part of the answer.

Not only were both claims false, there is nothing to suggest that in either case there was any substantial complaints from the Muslim community in those areas demanding a ban on pork in school canteens in the first place. This is quite common when it comes to anger-inciting social media hoaxes; the claim that a racial or religious minority has demanded that the majority cater for their needs by removing or devaluing an otherwise cultural tradition, when in reality no such demands were ever made.

Another variant has also circulated across social media, attributing the area to Joondalup, a suburb of Perth in Australia. The mayor there had also dismissed the claims as false. Again this variant reads virtually verbatim to the hoaxes discussed above.

WAY TO GO AUSTRALIA
MAYOR REFUSES TO REMOVE PORK FROM SCHOOL CANTEEN MENU… EXPLAINS WHY
Muslim parents demanded the abolition of pork in all the school canteens of a Perth suburb.
The mayor of the Perth suburb of Joondalup, has refused, and the town clerk sent a note to all parents to explain why…
“Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Australia, its customs, its traditions, its way of life, because that’s where they chose to immigrate.”
“They must understand that they have to integrate and learn to live in Australia.”
“They must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle, not the Australians who so generously welcomed them.”
“They must understand that Australians are neither racist nor xenophobic, they accepted many immigrants before Muslims (whereas the reverse is not true, in that Muslim states do not accept non-Muslim immigrants).”
“That no more than other nations, Australians are not willing to give up their identity, their culture.”
“And if Australia is a land of welcome, it’s not the Mayor of Joondalup who welcomes foreigners, but the Australian people as a whole.”
“Finally, they must understand that in Australia with its Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious festivals, religion must remain in the private domain.”
The municipality of Joondalup was right to refuse any concessions to Islam and Sharia.
“For Muslims who disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable in Australia, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open halal arms in accordance with Shariah.”
“If you left your country for Australia, and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered that life is better in Australia than elsewhere.”
“Ask yourself the question, just once, “Why is it better here in Australia than where you come from?”
“A canteen with pork is part of the answer.”
If you feel the same, SHARE.

In all the above cases, the hoaxes purport two baseless claims. Firstly, that a mayor of some principality wrote a letter rejecting the demands of Muslims to ban pork from school canteens, and secondly that Muslims had demanded pork be removed from school canteens in the first place.

This rumour is completely baseless, yet still from time to time it inexplicably manages to regain popularity as it circulates the Internet again and again. We don’t recommend spreading it.